Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital now offering robot-assisted peritoneal vaginoplasty

Vaginoplasty—a procedure used to construct a vagina and external female genitalia from existing body tissue—is a common gender-affirming surgery among transgender women. Cutting-edge technology installed at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital now allows surgeons from the Brigham Center for Transgender Health to perform the procedure using internal peritoneal tissue rather than scrotal skin to construct the vaginal lining. BWFH is the first hospital within Mass General Brigham to offer this service.

“Using the DaVinci SP (single-port) robot that was installed at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital
earlier this year, we’re able to offer this service to our patients,” says William Boysen, MD, director of Reconstructive Urology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a member of the multidisciplinary team at the Center for Transgender Health. “We are among only a handful of health care centers in the country to offer this service. For patients, some of whom have been on waiting lists for years, it means greater access to care along with improved safety and outcomes.”

Since its opening in 2022, the Brigham Center for Transgender Health has been committed to delivering innovative, high-quality, specialized gender-affirming clinical care. The highly experienced multidisciplinary team supports transgender patients during every step of their journey, offering a full range of surgical and medical care in a safe, attentive setting at both Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.

Devin O’Brien Coon, MD, MS, is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and the clinical director for the center. “Transgender and gender-diverse patients continue to face significant barriers to health equity,” he says. “Introducing innovative new surgical approaches is one key part of our mission to reduce those disparities by delivering the best results possible. Within the Brigham family, we are proud to support these patients as we work together to deliver care that changes lives.”

To learn more about the Brigham Center for Transgender Health and the full suite of services available to transgender individuals, visit the website.

To schedule an appointment with a physician in the Center for Transgender Health, please contact the center’s patient coordinator at 617-732-5303 or email transgenderhealth@bwh.harvard.edu.

If you are a physician seeking to refer a patient to the Center for Transgender Health, please call 617-732-5303. To contact one of the center’s physicians with a question, patient referral, or second opinion, you may also email transgenderhealth@bwh.harvard.edu.