Physicians treating transgender patients – in particular, transgender men who were born female – are faced with a confusing process when prescribing isotretinoin for severe acne.
A research letter published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology reports that established to prevent female patients from starting isotretinoin therapy while pregnant or from becoming pregnant while exposed to the teratogenic medication.
Nearly 90% of respondents favored changing the current gender-specific categories in iPLEDGE to gender-neutral ones, classifying patients only by whether or not they have the ability to become pregnant.
For their research, Courtney Ensslin, MD, of the department of dermatology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and colleagues, distributed an 18-point questionnaire to 385 members of the Association of Professors of Dermatology that included questions assessing clinicians’ knowledge about the reproductive potential of transgender men and women. The recipients were asked to distribute it to faculty members and residents. The survey also described three clinical scenarios in which the physician needed to decide how to register a patient in iPLEDGE. The clinicians largely opted to class transgender men as women with childbearing potential, even if the category conflicted with the patient’s self-identified and legally recognized male gender.
Of the 136 clinicians who responded, 60% were women, almost half were aged 25-34 years. About 12% of respondents said the complexities of prescribing isotretinoin to a transgender patient led them to choose alternative therapies. And the survey revealed some gaps on providers’ general literacy on transgender patients and their reproductive potential. For example, fewer than a third of respondents answered correctly as to whether testosterone treatment decreases the quality and development of an immature ovum.
The researchers wrote that the survey results, while limited by a small sample of respondents that skewed toward younger women providers, suggest that “continued education on fertility in transgender patients is needed because prescribers must fully understand each patient’s reproductive potential to safely prescribe teratogenic medications.” Additionally, they pointed out, the results support ongoing efforts to reform iPLEDGE, as the current categories “do not offer an inclusive approach to care for transgender patients.”
Earlier this year the American Academy of Dermatology issued a position statement that described a number of ongoing initiatives aimed at improving treatment for patients who are members of gender and sexual minorities. These included the “revision of the AAD position statement on isotretinoin to support a gender-neutral categorization model for [iPLEDGE] … based on child-bearing potential rather than on gender identity,” the statement said.
Dr. Ensslin and colleagues reported conflicts of interest related to their research. The study was supported by the National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.
SOURCE: Ensslin C et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2019 Dec;81(6):1426-9.