Herms, 1989
Dept. of Gynecology and Obstetrics, County Hospital Erlenbach a.M., Germany

This is a short contribution to the 8th World Congress for Sexology in Heidelberg, Germany, that neither contains exact figures or anything about methodology nor single case studies. Of the 85 operated, after severe refusal by patients for follow-up studies at the beginning, finally 45 females and 19 males could be won for cooperation. "About two-thirds of the patients of both sexes reexamined by us felt subjectively better than before the operation. In their case, a good-to-fair harmonization between feelings of psychosexual affinity and physical appearance had taken place. In social terms, the effects of the operation tended to be favorable for both sexes. Job difficulties or disappointed expectations with regard to a partnerships were however seen by the transsexuals as of secondary importance and as something to be put up with. After allowing for the few cases which in terms of the overall impression could be categorized as neither significantly improved nor worsened, a clear worsening of the patient´s psychological condition, including social disadvantages, occurred in only a tiny minority of cases" (p. 130).