Feminising genitoplasty: long-term psycosexual adjustment, social behaviour and post-operative outcomes

Abstract

Purpose To assess the long-term psychological adjustment, social behaviour and psychosexual outcome in patients submitted to feminising genitoplasty. Material and methods Twenty-tree patients submitted to an early Passerini-Glazel feminising genitoplasty entered the study. We distinguished 2 groups composed of 13 and 10 patients with a mean age of 13 and 25 years, group 1 and 2 respectively. All patients were investigated about family relationships, social relationships, hobbies and self body image. In group 1 personality was investigated with the Draw-a-tree test. Group 2 was evaluated with: Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) Test, Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), Sexual Distress Scale (SDS), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), and a questionnaire assessing masturbation. Results Group 1 described a good family situation, easy relationships. 54% patients indicated sufficient satisfaction with self body image. The Draw-a-tree test was significant for anxiety. Group 2 described a good family situation, many friendly relationships. Four patients indicated poor satisfaction with self body image. At CES-D 3 patients were at risk of depression. At BDI test 5 patients presented mild/severe depression. FSFI showed a complete sex life in 5 patients. SDS evidenced satisfactory sexual intercourse in 4 of them. At DAS 6 patients showed a stable relationship. Conclusions All patients described good family and social relationships. Depressive symptoms are widely diffuse in adult patients. In contrast with the current literature most patients of our study population reported a satisfactory sexual activity.