Gender role reversal among postoperative transsexuals

Although sex reassignment surgery (SRS) is an effective treatment method with largely successful results, clinicians occasionally come across persons who regret their decision to undergo SRS. This regret can be inferred from their overt behavior, such as a second social role reversal, or their statements that they regret the steps they have taken. However, their statements and behavior do not always correspond. By means of a semistructured interview, we have extensively interviewed 10 persons who reported feelings of regret or whose overt behavior indicated a significant degree of non-successful postoperative functioning, possibly associated with regret. It appeared that the majority of this group had a (very) late start of cross-dressing and serious psychological problems, which do not merely seem to be a result of their gender dysphoria, before requesting SRS.