I've had some medical professionals see that I'm nonbinary, look at me, and assume that I'm afab. Which perhaps they also see the estrogen prescription on my chart and take the wrong conclusion, but either way it's definitely a bit awkward getting asked when my last period was and having to explain.
So many people seem to have this set idea in their heads on what to expect when they hear trans or nonbinary, and get awkward about it when it suddenly doesn't match. Surprise, we're people and not some monolithic group!
As a trans guy, we take localized estrogen for atrophy (to avoid infections, bleeding, and pain from vaginal atrophy). Any trans person can reasonably need estrogen.
Yeah very fair point, but in my case I went from oral pills to injections so in either case I'd think that should indicate it's not a local application haha. I also figured my sex assigned at birth would be noted somewhere in my chart but honestly who knows, maybe it isn't clearly stated.
I'll take that further: any human being can reasonably need estrogen. Even cisgender men's bodies tend to make themselves a little estrogen. It's an important hormone for humans, no matter which sex a human's body might be categorized as in any part of that human's life...
Lots of trans masculine people don’t even know that we need localized estrogen supplements! I’m fortunate my T prescriber explained the signs of atrophy to me.
Other not fun fact, you can risk pyometra, which is an infection of the uterus. Atrophy causes perfect conditions for bacteria to grow in the scar tissue. Pyometra is usually lethal.
It's not a need for every trans masc person. I'm trans masc and don't experience any atrophy or vaginal dryness so I don't need localized estrogen. I can agree that doctors should inform trans mascs taking testosterone that atrophy is a possibility and localized estrogen can help. But it is not inherently needed for every trans masc.
You can have moisture but still have atrophy, actually. It tends to cause dryness (wetness from sexual arousal can still happen, but there’s a lack of moisture otherwise) but the tissue atrophying is the biggest concern since that can lead to incontinence & infection risks.
Atrophy is going to happen if you have male T ranges just because of how hormones work, T dominance causes a lack of estrogen in the vagina. You likely just haven’t had it happen yet or you are asymptomatic for now. This happens to post menopausal cis women, it happens to us trans mascs, to literally anyone who has vaginal tissue but not enough estrogen to support it.
I've been on t for 6 years. When does it usually start happening?
Edit: doing some research it looks like 70% of trans masc who take testosterone long term develope atrophy. So there's roughly 30% that don't due to many factors such as cell resilience or producing estrogen from the adrenal gland.
So it's not guaranteed to happen but everyone should be aware it could happen and has a treatment. But every body behaves differently. Some people's sex drives dissappear on antidepressants, others don't notice any change. Some people gain weight easily, some it's a struggle
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u/TheElectronicsFella Jul 31 '26
I've had some medical professionals see that I'm nonbinary, look at me, and assume that I'm afab. Which perhaps they also see the estrogen prescription on my chart and take the wrong conclusion, but either way it's definitely a bit awkward getting asked when my last period was and having to explain.
So many people seem to have this set idea in their heads on what to expect when they hear trans or nonbinary, and get awkward about it when it suddenly doesn't match. Surprise, we're people and not some monolithic group!