The troubling truth about ‘gender affirming’ mastectomies

When Sinead Watson had a double mastectomy in June 2017 at the age of 26, she was initially ‘quite euphoric.’ Although born female, she had been taking testosterone for two years and was using the name Sean. The mastectomy, or ‘top surgery’, was the last step on her transition.

‘I was so glad that I’d finally got it done – no more binders, no more being paranoid that I was a man with boobs –  so I did feel really good about it,’ she says. After the surgery, however, she discovered she had no sensation at all in her chest area, something that continues to this day.

‘I realised after about five months my depression and self-hatred was still present, and that the surgery didn’t ‘cure’ me like I thought,’ she says. ‘The complete lack of sensation in my chest is unpleasant, and I realised in 2018 I regretted not only the surgery – I regretted transition as a whole because I still hated my body.