According to an article written by Elise Takahama for the USC Center for Health and Journalism, Seattle is having a difficult time supplying the growing demand for gender-affirming surgery for teenagers. The article states “In Seattle, just two surgeons perform the full range of gender-affirming surgeries for teenagers and young adults, both at the same hospital. One provider often sees more than 20 patients and performs up to 12 surgeries a week. The pace hasn’t slowed in years.” The article doesn’t mention the hospital, nor does it mention the surgeons. That said, I’m going to assume they are talking about Seattle Children's Hospital since their website claims that “Seattle Children’s is the only pediatric academic medical center with fellowship-trained plastic surgeons who provide gender-affirming surgery in our region.” (Surgical Gender Affirmation Program)
Upon looking through these plastic surgeons on the Seattle Children’s website, you will find two surgeons with “surgical gender affirmation” listed as one of their specialties, along with biographies in their profile confirming that they perform surgeries on minors. The names listed are Russell Edward Ettinger, MD and Shane Douglas Morrison, MD, MS. (Physician finder search results)
Now, you may be wondering what ages are currently eligible for surgery. I would love to tell you. However, Seattle Children’s does not have a specific age requirement for most of the many surgeries they provide. They claim that genital procedures are only 18 and up at this time, but aside from that, their website states “For other surgeries, timing depends on many factors, like the patient’s stage of puberty and how surgery fits with the rest of their gender-related healthcare. A typical age is mid-teens or older.” (Surgical Gender Affirmation Program) The list of other surgeries includes Facial gender-affirming surgery, Gender-affirming breast augmentation with implants or fat grafting, Gender-affirming mastectomy with or without free nipple grafting, Gender-affirming breast/chest reduction, Gender-affirming body contouring and Revision surgery for gender-affirming surgery. If the extremists continue to get their way, it won’t be too long before genital surgery is available for minors on-demand.
