It was January 24, 2020 that was held the first videoconference presented by Dr. Pierre Brassard with healthcare professionals in France.
A collaboration between Dr Marie-Jeanne Martin (Maison Dispersée de Santé, Lille, France), the Trans User Committee (Marie De La Chenelière) and the professionals of GrS Montreal (Dr Pierre Brassard and Daphney Prophète, nurse clinician) to put together a presentation offered to professionals and doctors from several French medical clinics. In all, around twenty participants joined the videoconference, among which we find a majority of doctors, but also nurses, a speech therapist and a physiotherapist.
The Maison Dispersée de Santé, which provides multidisciplinary health care in the Hauts-de-France region, works to improve the overall health of its users, including many people from the LGBTQ+ community.
Live from the GrS Montreal offices, the presentation, which lasted nearly one and a half hour, was intended to better equip French doctors and other healthcare professionals for postoperative care for patients who have undergone gender affirmative surgery.
After a brief introduction to the history of GrS Montreal and the Complexe Chirurgical CMC, it was about transidentity and gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is the pain associated with the mismatch between a person’s gender identity and the sex assigned at birth. Gender affirmation surgery is one of the effective treatments for treating gender dysphoria.
Two surgical procedures were then discussed in detail, namely mastectomy – or masculinization of the torso – and vaginoplasty, which is the creation of female-looking organs from existing tissue in trans women. Surgical techniques were discussed, as well as the associated risks, possible complications and their treatments.
A quick overview of the other surgical procedures performed at GrS Montreal was also presented and French professionals were able to ask their questions directly to Dr. Brassard.
The experience of this first videoconference was so enriching that there are already discussions to organize more in the near future. GrS Montreal is proud to be able to count on the world-renowned surgical expertise of Dr. Pierre Brassard and to share it with the medical community interested in the care of trans people.
