Contrary to proponents of gender reassignment surgery, puberty blockers have many negative effects, such as depression and osteoporosis. I developed advanced osteoporosis at the age of 18,” says Łukasz Sakowski.
Łukasz Sakowski is a journalist and science writer, a biologist by training. His blog, “To Tylko Teoria”, is followed on Facebook by more than 200,000 people. His recent public confession, in which he recounts having undergone sex reassignment surgery as a teenager and then reversing it after several years, sparked a debate about the harmfulness of such procedures.
TVP WEEKLY: Do scars remain after detransition?
ŁUKASZ SAKOWSKI: On the body? …
Yes, the ones after the mastectomy.
Formally, it was a gynecomastia, because after the legal detransition, that is, after returning to male personal data and male PESEL, I was already undergoing again as a man. The surgeon said that it would actually be a mastectomy, that is, the removal of the already developed breasts that had grown due to taking female hormones and puberty blockers. After the removal of the breasts, scars remained. They were visible for years in the form of large, relatively long and painful incisions under the nipples. Only after another plastic medicine operation could they be reduced in size. Now they are smaller and not so painful.
Had you planned a complete transition?
Was I going to remove the testicles? Yes. I already had an appointment for the scheduled surgery, but somehow my subconscious kept me from going through with it. I kept postponing the surgery and playing it over with various excuses. At the next rescheduled appointment, I finally gave up on the surgery. And that was a good thing, because it would have been an irreversible change that would have resulted in me having to take testosterone shots for the rest of my life. If testosterone use is short-lived, it is not yet dangerous, but current research shows that long-term use causes cancer of the internal organs, including liver cancer. Also, it is necessary to talk about another important issue: puberty blockers have many negative effects, even if only in the form of depression and osteoporosis, contrary to the opinion of proponents of sex change. I struggled with advanced osteoporosis at the age of 18 due to taking puberty blockers.
But you were very determined. Today I see before me a young, handsome man. Did the therapy you underwent have any effect on the development of the male body? In short, did it leave any traces?
Not only have my breasts grown, but my waistline has also been shaped, and my pelvis has also become wider. The fat distribution is more feminine. Even after the detransition procedures and restoring hormonal balance, people either thought I was such a “tomboy,” as they say colloquially, or someone younger than I was. When I made a doctor’s appointment, I went to the adult clinic window and was told that children would be admitted one floor down. At that point, I was 22 years old. My maturation as a man was inhibited. The hormones I was taking had also feminized my facial features. All in all, not surprisingly, I had been taking female hormones since I was 15, so for about 6, 7 years. Testosterone blockers about a year longer.
Please forgive me for the somewhat rude question, but where were your parents when you went further into this transsexual haze?
If we can respect that, I do not want to talk about my family’s affairs. We had our own issues at the time, and I was a closeted teenager and hid a lot from them. Anyway, in my blog I write openly and honestly about all other aspects of my story.
An important part of my story is that I was one of the first kids to have a computer at school and among my friends, and shortly thereafter the Internet. This left me socially isolated, and I encountered dangerous content on the Internet; unfortunately, few were aware of this danger at the time. This certainly contributed to my confusion. Today, the content disseminated by social media, as well as the structure, algorithms, and user interface of these media, are largely responsible for the epidemic of mental disorders among young people, as a growing number of scientific studies confirm. My peers and subsequent generations were the first to be affected by this problem. My situation was a harbinger of the problems that are becoming more common with the spread of Internet access for children. A dozen years ago, parents were not aware of the dangers on the Internet; there was some talk about pedophilia, but not to the same extent as today either. Meanwhile, in my house, everyone had their own computer. I could sit locked in my room, play games and enter the first discussion forums.
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By Cezary Korycki