LGBTQIA+ FERTILITY PRESERVATION

Fertility preservation for trans individuals with eggs who plan to undergo gender affirmation surgery or hormone replacement therapy.

Trans folks with eggs may preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs prior to initiating gender affirming hormone therapy with testosterone or bottom surgery to remove their ovaries and/or uterus. By preserving your fertility prior to gender affirming treatments which can impact it, you can grow your family at a later date. Egg freezing requires multiple vaginal ultrasounds and hormone injections to raise their estrogen levels. These estrogen-based hormone injections will generally not cause an increase in chest tissue, nor will they impact vocal tone or beard growth (if testosterone has been taken prior to the process). After doing an egg retrieval, you will experience a heavy menstrual cycle.

If you have previously initiated gender affirming hormone treatment with testosterone it may still be possible to freeze eggs. While there is data on how high levels of testosterone can impact egg health, it is still very limited. At AFMC, in order to have the best chance to achieve your fertility preservation goals, we recommend that trans and gender diverse individuals who have started gender affirming hormone therapy with testosterone, stop for at least 6 months prior to fertility treatment.

Trans folks with sperm may preserve their fertility by freezing their sperm prior to undergoing gender affirming hormone therapy with estrogen and anti-androgens or bottom surgery to remove their testicles. By preserving your fertility prior to gender affirming treatments which can impact it, you can grow your family at a later date. Sperm freezing requires producing a sperm specimen for analysis and producing further sperm specimens for freezing. No hormonal medications are generally needed in this process.

If you have previously initiated gender affirming hormone treatment with estrogens and/or anti-androgen it may still be possible to freeze sperm. Research indicates high levels of estrogen can have an impact on the quality of sperm health. At AFMC, we recommend that trans and gender diverse individuals stop gender affirming hormone therapy with estrogen and anti-androgens treatment for between 3 and 6 months prior to sperm freezing.