"Chest Binding Helps Smooth the Way for Transgender Teens, but There May Be Risks" - Amy Sohn
Teens that identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming use the process of binding to create a masculine profile. The American Academy of Pediatrics has estimated that 0.7 percent of 13 to 17-year-olds in the United States, about 150,000, identify as transgender. John Steever, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who runs its transgender health program and has evaluated over 500 patients from ages 8 to 23, said that almost 95 percent of the transmasculine teenagers in the program bind. He added that most of his patients who use binders “Then tell me the next things they want to do are testosterone, mastectomy and maybe phalloplasty. Ninety-five percent of the people I’ve evaluated get started on cross-hormones.”
— John B. Steever, MD, Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Adolescent Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, Special Programs, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center