Blood tests, other screenings and neovaginal health on TransHub

Blood tests

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Note

When reading blood test results, always pay attention to the measurement units. According to countries and lab, the prefered unit can change. - Estradiol is usually expressed in pg/ml or pmol/L (the transfem target level of 200pg/ml equates 734.25 pmol/L) - Testosterone is usually expressed in ng/ml or nmol/L (the transfem target level of 0.50 ng/ml equates 1,73nmol/L) You can refer to this [converter](https://transfemscience.org/misc/hormone-conc-unit-conv/) if need be.

Why?

Doing regular blood test are essential for two reasons:

Cancer screenings and navigating healthcare

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Cancer screenings

We should recall the obvious here: a trans person who is not on HRT should be screened for the same affections as for people of their assigned gender at birth. More specifically, transfeminine people not on HRT should be screened for prostate cancer after 55, and transmasculine people not on HRT (and without mammectomy) for breast and cervix cancer.

Breast

Transfeminine people on HRT usually trade their risks of prostate cancer for risks of breast cancer. Getting screened for breast cancer hence becomes important for transfem people on hormones, and even more after 45 and if you have family history of breast cancer.
The lowered risks of breast cancer that masculinizing therapy comes with should not dispense transmasculine people who haven’t got mammectomy to also get screened.

Prostate (before and after SRS)

Similarly, the lowered risks of prostate cancers in transfem people on hormones should not be read as an invitation to completely disregard the risks. There are many other risk factors to prostate cancer. Androgens mainly play a role on maintaining and aggravating prostate cancer, other factors can start it.

Neovaginal health

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Bio-vagina” functioning: hormones, glycogen and probiotics

In order to look at neovaginal health, it is important to understand how biovaginas work. (Note that I call biovaginas the vaginas of cis-women and AFAB people only for writing convenience, acknowledging that the term might not be ideal. Neovaginas are in many ways biovaginas as well.)

We are probably all aware of the vaginal flora and of its importance for vaginal and cervix health. What is less known is the evolution of this flora, and its relationship to hormonal balance.