How is androgen insensitivity syndrome treated?

How is androgen insensitivity syndrome treated?

Treatment for AIS depends on sex assignment, which is the gender chosen for an infant at birth. Most treatments take place after puberty. This gives your child’s body time to go through developmental changes. It also allows your child to play a more active role in their treatment decisions.

But some health experts think certain treatments, such as removal of the testicles, should happen before puberty. They think other treatments can happen after the completion of puberty. This reduces the risk of gonadoblastomas, which are tumors that can form in undescended testicles.

Children raised as males may choose to have:

• Surgery to repair their male genitals, such as hypospadias repair or orchiopexy (surgery to move undescended testicles to the scrotum).
• Breast reduction surgery to remove excess breast tissue.
• Hernia repair to close open or weakened tissue in their abdominal wall.
• Hormone therapy with testosterone.

Children raised as females may choose to have:

• Surgery to remove male genitals or extra clitoral tissue.
• Nonsurgical vaginal dilation to make their vagina deeper.
• Hormone therapy with estrogen.

Parents and healthcare providers may decide not to assign a gender at birth. Sometimes, they wait until puberty to choose one. Or parents might want the child to choose their own gender identity.