I’ve heard this discussed before the first of these procedures was successful.
Obviously a very interesting idea but for men (or people who were born men) the correct hormone issue is HUGE.
You’d have to give the correct amount of hormones at the correct time with those amounts changing every day (and possibly during the day). It’s an MASSIVE challenge and we may not even know what those correct dosages are right now. I mean has anyone ever done a record of the hormone levels for woman’s pregnancy for even two tests per day during the entire term?
And that’s assuming it static. If the correct hormone levels react to the way the baby is developing in someway (and I assume they must) then the challenge gets even greater.
The doctors on the podcast or in the article (I don’t remember where) seems to imply that what was done for this woman was basically trivial in comparison to making it possible for a man.
Given where the technology is now, there's no scenario where thousands of men won't be doing this within a few decades. It'll get easier, safer and cheaper over the next 10-15 years of experimentation and development, putting it within reach of a lot more people. The number count won't be very high early on, it'll still be an incredible technological achievement.
If 30 years out just 1 in 100,000 men are doing this at a given time, it'd be over 100,000 male births annually on the planet.
I doubt this procedure will catch on with men, but artificial wombs are coming sooner or later.
Personally, I think this will, in modern historical terms, be the most significant catalyst in equalizing the genders. But I don't expect feminist groups to embrace it with open arms.
menstruation would only be a component if the transplanted organs included functional ovaries and fallopian tubes. women who have full ovariectomy do not mensturate afterwards, as a slightly related example.
there are existing procedures to help facilitate implantation and regulate hormones that have high success rate (most common is ivf).
however, vaginal canal can also be useful to expel discharge and in case of pregnancy, placental fluid/sac -- but in a theoretical case of implanted uterus only, I wonder if "including" a vaginal canal would be more symbolic than medically necessary?
I don't see how a person with a transplanted uterus would need to menstruate. The role of the uterus is to facilitate pregnancy. Just as many women do not menstruate when taking oral contraceptive pills, just so could a transplant recipient not menstruate.
That was probably a misleading way to put it. The patient wouldn't be menstruating regularly, but if implantation fails, they'd have to shed the menses somehow.
I’ve heard this discussed before the first of these procedures was successful.
Obviously a very interesting idea but for men (or people who were born men) the correct hormone issue is HUGE.
You’d have to give the correct amount of hormones at the correct time with those amounts changing every day (and possibly during the day). It’s an MASSIVE challenge and we may not even know what those correct dosages are right now. I mean has anyone ever done a record of the hormone levels for woman’s pregnancy for even two tests per day during the entire term?
And that’s assuming it static. If the correct hormone levels react to the way the baby is developing in someway (and I assume they must) then the challenge gets even greater.
The doctors on the podcast or in the article (I don’t remember where) seems to imply that what was done for this woman was basically trivial in comparison to making it possible for a man.
Given where the technology is now, there's no scenario where thousands of men won't be doing this within a few decades. It'll get easier, safer and cheaper over the next 10-15 years of experimentation and development, putting it within reach of a lot more people. The number count won't be very high early on, it'll still be an incredible technological achievement.
If 30 years out just 1 in 100,000 men are doing this at a given time, it'd be over 100,000 male births annually on the planet.
I doubt this procedure will catch on with men, but artificial wombs are coming sooner or later.
Personally, I think this will, in modern historical terms, be the most significant catalyst in equalizing the genders. But I don't expect feminist groups to embrace it with open arms.
I suspect it’s highly likely to catch on with people born as men, now keen to be women.
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He would also need a vaginal canal so he could menstrate. That's possible with surgery, but it'd be a deal breaker for most men.
menstruation would only be a component if the transplanted organs included functional ovaries and fallopian tubes. women who have full ovariectomy do not mensturate afterwards, as a slightly related example.
there are existing procedures to help facilitate implantation and regulate hormones that have high success rate (most common is ivf).
however, vaginal canal can also be useful to expel discharge and in case of pregnancy, placental fluid/sac -- but in a theoretical case of implanted uterus only, I wonder if "including" a vaginal canal would be more symbolic than medically necessary?
So it would seem that the ovaries would also need to be transplanted, and probably the testes removed (or otherwise eunichised).
Basically turning a man functionally into a woman.
I don't see how a person with a transplanted uterus would need to menstruate. The role of the uterus is to facilitate pregnancy. Just as many women do not menstruate when taking oral contraceptive pills, just so could a transplant recipient not menstruate.
That was probably a misleading way to put it. The patient wouldn't be menstruating regularly, but if implantation fails, they'd have to shed the menses somehow.
Wait, how do you get a man to produce eggs? Aren’t they present in a woman’s body at birth?
A male pelvis is more narrow than a female pelvis.
All the babies delivered so far from a uterus transplant were C-sections (as explained in article).
C-sections are already a thing.
Don't other parts of the body expand during gestation, though?
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Please no.
Now that's an interesting question
It may be important for the baby's health to nurse with their biological mother.
Men, with the right hormones, are able to lactate and produce milk. (In some rare cases men lactate naturally without hormone injections)
Do you want your penis sliced up and turned inside-out to make a uterus?
I think an elite few trans women might get it, but I don't expect men would want to.
Um, that makes a vagina, not a uterus. There isn't enough material in the penis to do that much :/
…er, right, yes. I wasn’t thinking straight.