Puberty Blocker Use In Boys May Cause Permanent Testicular Atrophy, Irreversible Damage to Fertility: Study

A new study suggests puberty blockers may cause permanent damage to boys’ reproductive organs and irreversibly impair their fertility, undercutting the claim that their use is a harmless way to “explore gender identity.” The Mayo Clinic study, published at the end of March and not yet peer reviewed, analyzed the largest clinically annotated pediatric testicular biorepository from teenage boys who suffered from gender dysphoria and were put on chronic puberty blockers. The researchers concluded from a combination of gland atrophy and microscopic cell-level abnormalities that the use of puberty blockers risks permanent damage to reproductive fitness. “At the tissue level, we report mild-to-severe sex gland atrophy in PB treated children,” the authors wrote....