Teenager born as female, who transitioned to male and underwent double mastectomy before realizing that she made a huge mistake and detransitioned, speaks out to raise awareness in young people

Few weeks ago, we reported about the 23-year-old Helena, a young woman who was born as female, but had transitioned to male while she was a teenager. In the early adulthood, Helena realized she made a huge mistake when she experienced several serious health problems and decided to de-transition to what she naturally was, a female.

In the last few months, Helena has become very vocal about her several-year long experience as she wants to warn children, teenagers and young people about everything that comes with transitioning. As soon as she turned 18, Helena underwent a hormone therapy that put her life in danger and she wants to make everyone aware about the potential risks that comes with transitioning.

Gender identity in young people is a hot topic nationwide. In several American states, teachers and school educators are restricted in teaching about gender identity, but in majority of the states, teachers are embracing the topic as the number of transgender and gender nonbinary children rises. In recent years, the number of children experiencing gender dysphoria has skyrocketed. The number of young people identifying as transgender in the US has almost doubled since 2017, according to a new Centers for Disease Control & Prevention report.

Just like Helena, the 17-year-old Chloe also speaks out about the problems she faced from the moment she decided to transition from female to male even before she was a teenager. When she was only 12 years old, Chloe out of nowhere decided that she was transgender. By the time she was 16, she realized the mistake she made and she now declares as female, again. Chloe is one of a growing cohort called “detransitioners” — those who seek to reverse a gender transition, often after realizing they actually do identify with their biological gender.

As reported by the Post, it was less than a year after her initial decision when she came out to her parents and told them that she was a transgender. At only 13, she was already on prescribed testosterone therapy. Two years after that, she decided to go step further and underwent a double mastectomy. Less than a year later, Chloe realized the mistake she made, but it was already too late. “I was failed by the system. I literally lost organs,” she said according to the Post.

Historical data shows data transitioning from male to female has been by far more common, with this cohort typically experiencing persistent gender dysphoria from a very young age. Recently, however, the status quo has reversed, and female-to-male transitions have become the overwhelming majority. Many of the de-transitioners, unfortunately, will struggle till the end of their lives with the irreversible medical consequences of a decisions they made as minors.

Chloe was only 11 when she joined Instagram for the first time. While Helena claims that Tumblr was the place where she was initially introduced to transgender communities, for the CA based Chloe that was Instagram. She said that she was exposed to trans content and activism while using the social network. “I saw how trans people online got an overwhelming amount of support, and the amount of praise they were getting really spoke to me because, at the time, I didn’t really have a lot of friends of my own,” she reportedly said.

Chloe has had hard times during the recovery period following her decision to de-transition. While she is now completely healthy, she is still concerned whether the viability of her eggs, that was compromised by years of testosterone injections, will allow her to have children in the future.