Gender report: Doctor says patients who get it wrong are 'rare'

Hormone blockers and various treatments for young transsexuals are constantly debated by politicians. On Wednesday, Eric Duhaime asked the Legault government's panel of wise men to ban these treatments for minors in Quebec.

Dr. Antoine Cloutier-Place, General Practitioner at Agora Medical Clinic, came to clarify the program. balance sheet Many questions surround this debate and practices related to a child who may suffer from gender dysphoria.

After acknowledging that “there is a certain mistrust surrounding everything related to gender-affirmation medicine,” Dr. Cloutier-Blace notes that “the medical consensus of mainstream thought communities still favors the use of inhibitors.”

The doctor first points out that because the number of clinics that treat problems related to gender identity is limited, and they are mainly concentrated in the metropolitan area of ​​Montreal, the waiting lists before accessing a specialist are very long.

“The water is often already very warm when we come to the first appointment,” explains the doctor. The idea is to see where the conversation goes. “

The expert raises many questions, which he asks himself about the person before him during this first meeting: “Are we exploring types? What kind of self-understanding or self-knowledge do we have? Is it clear to the teenagers we meet that there is a lingering discomfort?

However, he notes that treatments are not offered to patients who have not yet started puberty.

Dr. Cloutier-Place points out that timing is important during these interventions, and that puberty blockers allow you more room for maneuver.

The goal is to slow down “nature's work” to avoid “irreversible changes”. He then gives the example of the production of breasts and the production of hair.

“If we don't intercept it, [rendu] In adulthood it is double incisions, mastectomy surgery, which is more invasive than minimally invasive, which we could have avoided by using implants.

The purpose of prescribing inhibitors is to avoid all of these “invasive” treatments that are necessary in adolescence. Using these methods, the expert says, gives them a few years to clarify how they feel.

He says it's extremely rare for patients who use blockers to find that they're at fault.

“It's very rare in studies, and personally, I haven't seen it yet. 90%, 95% of people who start blockers, then go back to hormone therapy.

***Watch the full interview with Dr. Antoine Cloutier-Blais in the video above***