Bones and HRT

[Madeline]

Hi,

I'm 17 and MTF, and i'v yet to start on HRT, but I was wondering when I do will there be any feminizing of the bones? I have pritty broad shoulders(which I hate) and i'v been hearing different things. Some people tell me that it doses feminize your bones if your under a certen age when you start. Not sure what age that is but would I be under it? Some people tell me it does nothing. I'm just wondering what to expect when I start HRT.

Thanks for everyones input.

[Beyond]

Hi,

I'm 17 and MTF, and i'v yet to start on HRT, but I was wondering when I do will there be any feminizing of the bones? I have pritty broad shoulders(which I hate) and i'v been hearing different things. Some people tell me that it doses feminize your bones if your under a certen age when you start. Not sure what age that is but would I be under it? Some people tell me it does nothing. I'm just wondering what to expect when I start HRT.

Thanks for everyones input.

Well it depends on how far you're into puberty as some people start later than others.  Puberty for genetic males can stretch all the way to age 20, so it all depends on where you are at now.  Estrogen will NOT feminize your bones, but it WILL stop further masculinization.  And different bones mature later than others.  For example the shape of the pelvis and and hip joints are already formed by age 12.  However, starting at 17 will give you an excellent soft tissue response (in general) and that will make it appear that you have normal female hips.  Another key for us is the rib cage.  If your rib cage hasn't matured to a full male adult size estrogen should stop that, but it can't reverse bone growth.  Visual improvement can happen though through loss of upper body musculature over time.

Hope this helps.


Beyond RTR (registered radiologic technologist-I take pictures of bones for a living)

[gothique11]

as you lose muscle you'll notice your shoulders go down some. It varies from person to person. I'm much smaller now than I used to be, for example. I even lose height and shoe size (and weight of course).

[Keira]

It prevents further masculinasation, rather than femiize.
Since feminize just means, besides the pelvis and face,
less bone thickening
(T's has the effect of making the bones more robust, increasing
their cross-section),
part of the bone thickening is due to not just T, but the effect
of the muscles on the bone's attachment points. Especially
apparent on facial bones.

The thickening effect occurs well past lengthening
and growing effect (driven by estrogen even in men),
it has an effect up to the late 20's.

So, stopping T early means a more delicate, if not smaller, ossature,
except in the face, where both an increasing ength and robustness
continues up to 30 due to the bone plates never quite fusing.