Boys receiving puberty blockers for gender dysphoria experienced irreversible changes to their testes.

A histological analysis¹ of testicular tissue taken from boys receiving puberty blockers for gender dysphoria showed that the tissue showed abnormal development that was likely to be irreversible.

Samples were gathered as part of “fertility preservation surgery,” in which testicular tissue is harvested and preserved in hope that it will be able to produce sperm later. Every boy with gender dysphoria in the study had elected for this surgery due to inability or reluctance to ejaculate. This suggests the possible presence of various psychological and physical conditions that are unexplored in the research.

1. Murugesh V, Ritting M, Salem S, Aalam SMM, Garcia J, Chattha AJ, Zhao Y, Knapp DJ, Kalthur G, Granberg CF, Kannan N. Puberty Blocker and Aging Impact on Testicular Cell States and Function. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Mar 27:2024.03.23.586441. Doi: 10.1101/2024.03.23.586441. PMID: 38585884; PMCID: PMC10996503. ↩︎