Top surgery drastically improves quality of life for young transgender people, study finds

The quality of life of young transmasculine people dramatically improves after receiving top surgery — a mastectomy procedure that removes breast tissue — according to a study by Northwestern Medicine.

The study, published in peer-reviewed journal JAMA Pediatrics on Monday, is the first to show that top surgery is "associated with significant improvement in chest dysphoria, gender congruence, and body image in transmasculine and nonbinary teens and young adults," Northwestern Medicine said in a press release. 

The study compared two groups of patients ranging in ages from 14 to 24: one group of 36 patients received top surgery, and a control group of 34 patients received gender-affirming care, but did not get top surgery. Three months after surgery, the patients who had the procedure experienced significantly less chest dysphoria than they had prior to surgery, while patients in the control group experienced around the same levels of chest dysphoria as they had at the start of their care.