By Amelia Hansford
Copyright thepinknews
Trans people who want larger breasts should start taking progesterone, according to the latest research into hormone therapy.
Dut researchers found that the feminising hormone, when taken as part of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), typically increases breast growth for trans people.
Progesterone is one of two key female sex hormones, the other being estradiol, better known as oestrogen.
Typically found in pill form, progesterone can be taken either orally or rectally, known as boofing.
While it tends to promote breast growth in cisgender women, there have been few studies on its safety and effectiveness for transgender women. The lack of reliable evidence means progesterone supplements are rarely prescribed to trans people.
To address this, a team at the Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC) led a medical trial of 90 participants who were taking feminising HRT medications.
Presenting the results at the European Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (EPATH) annual conference in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday (5 September), endocrinologist Koen Dreijerink said researchers found that, not only was the medication “safe and effective” but it also dramatically increased breast growth.
“We’re now able to prescribe it, in a trial setting, for those who have been taking [oestrogen] for at least a year,” he said. “We hope our findings lead to better hormone treatments for transgender individuals.”
Breast growth was monitored using 3D-scanning techniques to measure size and volume. The researchers saw a 30 per cent increase, on average, across all 90 patients.
The largest increase was in those who also increased their estradiol dosage, although this came with frequent some side effects, including short-lasting tiredness, hypersensitivity in the breasts and nipples, and mood swings.
The researchers hope to understand the “long-term and side-effects” of prolonged progesterone usage.
“For example, we know that progesterone causes drowsiness so we advised our participants in advance to take it prior to sleeping,” Dreijerink said. “It’s important that we keep learning about the effects of gender-affirming hormone therapy.”
Raya Geels, the study’s first author and PhD candidate at Amsterdam UMC, said: “Crucially, we saw that study participants were more satisfied with the size, shape and growth of their breasts compared [with] participants who did not use progesterone.”
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