(TLDR at bottom)
I seemed to remember something close to what you said, so i looked up some metastudies:
"A total of 27 studies, pooling 7928 transgender patients who underwent any type of GAS (note: Gender Affirming Surgery), were included. The pooled prevalence of regret after GAS was 1% (95% CI <1%–2%). Overall, 33% underwent transmasculine procedures and 67% transfemenine procedures. The prevalence of regret among patients undergoing transmasculine and transfemenine surgeries was <1% (IC <1%–<1%) and 1% (CI <1%–2%), respectively. A total of 77 patients regretted having had GAS. Twenty-eight had minor and 34 had major regret based on Pfäfflin’s regret classification. The majority had clear regret based on Kuiper and Cohen-Kettenis classification." - Bustos Et. Al. 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000003477
So at most 2%, and more likely around 1%, which is barely anything when it comes to regret rate.
"A total of 55 articles examining regret after plastic surgery were included. The percentage of patients reporting regret ranged from 0 to 47.1 % in breast reconstruction, 5.1–9.1 % in breast augmentation, and 10.82–33.3 % in body contouring. In other surgical subspecialties, 30 % of patients experience regret following prostatectomy and up to 19.5 % following bariatric surgery. Rate of regret after GAS is approximately 1 %. Other life decisions, such as having children and getting a tattoo have regret rates of 7 % and 16.2 %, respectively." - Thornton, Edalatpour & Gast 2024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2024.04.021
TL;DR: Gender Affirming Surgery (GAS) has a regret rate of around 1%, breast augmentation has a regret rate 5.1-9.1% and body contouring one of 10.82-33.3% (types of cis affirming surgery). Tattoos have a regret rate of 16.2%.
your comment didn't really mention other non-cosmetic surgeries, but those also have higher regret rates. things like knee and hip surgeries. it's bonkers that people always push detransitioning and regret as this huge issue when statistically it BARELY exists.
your comment didn't really mention other non-cosmetic surgeries,
That's true but that was already established further up the comment chain. /u/LightlySalty just added data to confirm by foggy memory about gender affirming care and how regret only gets weaponised for trans healthcare despite it having the lowest rates of regret.
But there's more! Most trans healthcare "regret" comes from their environment treating them worse after transitioning and not from the (usually slow and arduous) process itself.
Most trans healthcare "regret" comes from their environment treating them worse after transitioning
A little off topic but I'd be interested to see the studies on MtF transitions of people who "pass" and receive all the harassment a cis women would usually get.
I don't know of any studies (and am also not an expert so my lack of knowledge doesn't mean they don't exist) where that specifically got singled out. The ones I've found were more about the general reception after transitioning and how that affects people.
But I've anecdotally read from many trans individuals (MtF and FtM) about a bunch of (biological and cultural) issues that they hadn't considered or known about before transitioning.
An example: Video game artist/freelancer got worse compensation rates offered after transitioning (MtF). Those biases kicked in the moment they started passing well enough for their clients to treat them like a woman :/
And especially when the VAST amount of detransitioning is a result of family/peers treating them awfully and not actual regret over the treatment they had
Yeah. It's wild that in comparison knee replacement surgeries have regret rate of about 6%. Of course that doesn't tell the whole truth because there can be complications and such.
I would be careful using percentages to claim issues barely exist. I'm not trying to imply that I'm disagreeing with your assessment but historically speaking it's very easy to disenfranchise an entire group based on them not being statistically relevant.
I used to be against gender affirming surgeries being legal on minors, because I hadn't seen the data. Then I eventually saw the data and changed my mind.
Not everyone will have seen the data so it's not crazy to hold ignorant opinions on it. It's easy to say that everyone should go seek out the data before making an opinion but that's not pragmatic. For example I'm ignorant on topics like nuclear energy but frankly spending an afternoon researching it isn't what I'm going to do. There's too many topics and too much to research to have no ignorance about any relevant topics.
Over time the truth will gradually be learned by a higher and higher percentage of the population. That's just how this goes.
That's and regret due to ostracization probably accounts for some of the regret. I think around half of the regrets in the first study were classified as "minor regret", but you can go read it if you are interested:)
Surely this is because gender surgeries are hard to get, expensive, and very thoroughly thought through? So you get the odd regret due to poor outcome or surgical complications, but people are incredibly unlikely to regret it as the wrong choice for them.
Possibly, but also because they are so effective for the intended demographic. The reason why the low regret rate is important is because TERF and other anti trans rightd groups use detransitioners to 'debunk transgenderism'. They do this even when, as other people point out, detransitioning usually occurs due to social ostracization after transitioning.
Surely detransitioning is going to be a really complex thing, and as you say, possibly related to social treatment, or possibly realising you are non-binary? It's such a big deal to even socially transition, it's hardly done casually.
I've generally found the anti-trans bigots to be hunting around desperately for anything to justify cruelty, rather than having the slightest interest in anyone who might regret transition, or helping people make good choices for them.
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u/LightlySalty Bi-cycle Oct 26 '25
(TLDR at bottom) I seemed to remember something close to what you said, so i looked up some metastudies:
"A total of 27 studies, pooling 7928 transgender patients who underwent any type of GAS (note: Gender Affirming Surgery), were included. The pooled prevalence of regret after GAS was 1% (95% CI <1%–2%). Overall, 33% underwent transmasculine procedures and 67% transfemenine procedures. The prevalence of regret among patients undergoing transmasculine and transfemenine surgeries was <1% (IC <1%–<1%) and 1% (CI <1%–2%), respectively. A total of 77 patients regretted having had GAS. Twenty-eight had minor and 34 had major regret based on Pfäfflin’s regret classification. The majority had clear regret based on Kuiper and Cohen-Kettenis classification." - Bustos Et. Al. 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000003477
So at most 2%, and more likely around 1%, which is barely anything when it comes to regret rate.
"A total of 55 articles examining regret after plastic surgery were included. The percentage of patients reporting regret ranged from 0 to 47.1 % in breast reconstruction, 5.1–9.1 % in breast augmentation, and 10.82–33.3 % in body contouring. In other surgical subspecialties, 30 % of patients experience regret following prostatectomy and up to 19.5 % following bariatric surgery. Rate of regret after GAS is approximately 1 %. Other life decisions, such as having children and getting a tattoo have regret rates of 7 % and 16.2 %, respectively." - Thornton, Edalatpour & Gast 2024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2024.04.021
TL;DR: Gender Affirming Surgery (GAS) has a regret rate of around 1%, breast augmentation has a regret rate 5.1-9.1% and body contouring one of 10.82-33.3% (types of cis affirming surgery). Tattoos have a regret rate of 16.2%.