Transgender and gender diverse children might choose to temporarily suppress puberty through the use of prescription medications called pubertal blockers. But deciding to get this treatment is a big step.
Here’s what you need to know about the pubertal blocker medication known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues, including the benefits, side effects and long-term effects.
What do pubertal blockers do?
Puberty’s physical changes can cause intense distress for many gender-nonconforming adolescents. When taken regularly, GnRH analogues suppress the body’s release of sex hormones, including testosterone and estrogen, during puberty. These hormones affect:
- Primary sex characteristics. These are the sexual organs present at birth, including the penis, scrotum and testicles and the uterus, ovaries and vagina.
- Secondary sex characteristics. These are the physical changes in the body that typically appear during puberty. Examples include breast development and growth of facial hair.
In those identified as male at birth, GnRH analogues decrease the growth of facial and body hair, prevent voice deepening, and limit the growth of genitalia.
In those identified as female at birth, treatment limits or stops breast development and delays or stops menstruation.
What are the benefits of use of pubertal blockers?
Gender dysphoria is the feeling of discomfort or distress that might accompany a difference between experienced or expressed gender and sex assigned at birth.
For children who have gender dysphoria, suppressing puberty might:
- Improve mental well-being
- Reduce depression and anxiety
- Improve social interactions and integration with other kids
- Eliminate the need for future surgeries
- Reduce thoughts or actions related to self-harm
However, puberty suppression alone might not ease gender dysphoria.
What are the criteria for use of pubertal blockers?
To begin using pubertal blockers, a child must:
- Show a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria
- Have gender dysphoria that began or worsened at the start of puberty
- Address any psychological, medical or social problems that could interfere with treatment
- Provide informed consent
Particularly when a child hasn’t reached the age of medical consent, parents or other caretakers or guardians must consent to the treatment and support the adolescent through the treatment process.
Are the changes permanent?
Use of GnRH analogues doesn’t cause permanent changes in an adolescent’s body. Instead, it pauses puberty, providing time to determine if a child’s gender identity is long lasting. It also gives children and their families time to think about or plan for the psychological, medical, developmental, social and legal issues ahead.
If an adolescent child stops taking GnRH analogues, puberty will resume.
What is the typical treatment time frame?
For most children, puberty begins around ages 10 to 11, though some start earlier. The effect of pubertal blockers depends on when a child begins to take the medication. GnRH analogue treatment can begin at the start of puberty to delay secondary sex characteristics. In slightly later stages of puberty, the treatment could be used to stop menstruation or erections or to prevent further development of undesired secondary sex characteristics.
While most children take the medication for a few years, every child is different. After suppressing puberty for a few years, your child might decide to stop hormone therapy or pursue other hormone treatments.
How is the medication given?
GnRH analogue treatments for children are prescribed, administered and monitored by a pediatric endocrinologist. The medication is typically given as injections, either monthly or every three months, or through an implant placed under the skin of the upper arm. The implant typically needs to be replaced every 12 months.
While taking pubertal blockers, your child will have regular blood tests to monitor the medication’s effectiveness. Your child will also be monitored for any side effects.
What are the possible side ef