JUNE 7, 2019

As Demand for Gender-Affirming Surgery Rises, Physicians Innovate

Clinicians from different disciplines team up, develop new approaches that are safer and simpler

In the Transgender Surgery and Health Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, director Maurice Garcia, MD, currently has a two-year waitlist to perform gender-affirming operations.

Although there’s considerable demand for these procedures today, just five years ago, the landscape for gender-affirming procedures in the United States looked much different. Transgender patients had few options for surgical care and insurance companies did not cover the operations.

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“At that