Overview

Testosterone cessation means stopping masculinising hormones after a period of use. For female detransitioners it is usually the first, and often the only, medical step of detransition. It is also the point at which the promise that hormones are "mostly reversible" gets tested on a real body. Some changes fade within weeks, some take years, and some never go away.

This page covers what women who stopped testosterone describe: the timeline of changes, the hormonal "crash", the permanent changes and what people do about them, the special situation of women whose ovaries have been removed, the lack of any clinical protocol for coming off, and the emotional side, from relief to grief to feeling stuck between identities. Very little research has studied what happens after females stop testosterone. Most of what is known comes from detransitioners' own accounts, small fertility studies of trans men who paused hormones, and animal models. This page says which is which.

Why stopping is a process, not an event

Testosterone taken in masculinising doses does two things at once. It adds a large amount of androgen, and it shuts down the woman's own reproductive hormone system. The brain's signals to the ovaries (luteinising hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone, LH and FSH) are suppressed, ovulation stops, and estrogen production falls. When the testosterone stops, the added androgen clears within days to weeks for gels and short-acting injections. Long-acting depot injections take months. Until the ovaries "wake up", though, there can be a gap where neither hormone is present in normal amounts.

That gap explains much of what detransitioners describe in the first months: fatigue, low mood, hot flushes and other menopause-like symptoms. Recovery depends on the ovaries restarting a cycle that involves several hormones rising and falling in sequence, so it is gradual and uneven. One detransitioner who studied biology described it like this:

Our bodies don't just start pumping out estrogen again once it realizes it has insufficient hormone levels, it has to regulate a number of different hormones which all have to fluctuate in specific patterns within a set time window in order to allow for menstruation to take place, and this can take some time. —homeostupid, detrans female

The type of testosterone matters too. Accounts on /r/detrans often point out that with long-acting injections such as testosterone undecanoate (Nebido), the clock only really starts once the last dose has worn off.

A rough timeline

The table below brings together patterns that recur in detransitioners' accounts. It is not a medical schedule. Individual accounts vary a lot, and no study has tracked a cohort of female detransitioners over time.

Periods returning

For many women, the return of periods is the first sign that the body is recovering. Reported timings on /r/detrans range from a few weeks to more than a year. One woman who was on testosterone for six years said it "came back after just 5 weeks" (JJ_Angel, detrans female). Another woman who used long-acting injections described the delay and an unusual first cycle:

I stopped hrt cold turkey, and didn't take any meds since then, no birth control, nothing. When it came back it was so light I didn't use pads, just liners, and it lasted like 22 days. After that I got my period every month and it was at normal flow and regular after some months. —LostSoul1911, detrans female

The published evidence comes almost entirely from trans men who paused testosterone to conceive or freeze eggs, not from detransitioners. In one survey of 41 trans men with successful births, 80% of the 25 who had previously taken testosterone resumed periods within six months of stopping. In fertility-preservation reports, clinics usually paused testosterone for three to six months until periods came back (2021 mouse-model study, summarising human data). A 2023 study found that trans men with prior testosterone use could still achieve egg and embryo freezing, pregnancy and live births (F&S Reports 2023). A case report on someone who had taken testosterone for eight years from adolescence noted that the time it takes for periods to return "is not well documented, and some suggest that amenorrhea may be irreversible" (Cryopreservation case report). These are small, selected samples, so nobody can say how often recovery fails, especially after long use that began in adolescence. See fertility for more.

The hormonal "crash"

Testosterone often feels calming, emotionally numbing and mildly euphoric. Many detransitioners describe coming off it as a withdrawal. The first months can bring intense crying, irritability, anxiety and depression. This is made worse by the low-hormone gap and by the psychological weight of the decision itself.

plus when you stop testosterone you will have a hormone crash for months before your body starts producing a normal regulated amount of estrogen again which will affect your mood a lot. i realized i wanted to detransition at around the same time i stopped t and i was so depressed for months. —cotinis_nitida, detrans female

-within a week I started feeling more emotions. Everything made me frustrated or want to cry. The first three months I had crazy hot flashes, mood swings, GI problems, and lots of crying. I'm 11 months off now and feel more stable and I've started to lose weight around my waist. —Ok-Cress-436, detrans female

This crash has two parts that are easy to confuse. One is physiological: hormones are out of balance. The other is psychological. If testosterone and a male identity had been a way of coping, stopping removes the coping strategy and brings back whatever lay underneath. One commenter put it directly: there is "the possibility that you are now being forced to confront trauma or deep rooted mental health issues that T was allowing you to avoid" (writteno, detrans female). Pages on mental health and trauma explore those underlying factors. Several commenters say they wish someone had warned them that judgement during this period can be clouded. One woman recalled feeling "super suicidal for a couple months" and urged others to stay close to someone they trust (DEPLATFORMED-, detrans female).

Trans men who pause testosterone for pregnancy or because they lost insurance describe similar swings. One said that when off testosterone "I'm just depressed and angry" (destructopop, trans man (FTM)). Another described returning periods as "super heavy and lasted weeks for about a span of half a year" (therealmethistime, trans man (FTM)). This matters for interpretation. The low point after stopping is a predictable effect of hormone withdrawal. On its own it does not tell anyone whether stopping was right or wrong. Feeling worse in the first months is not proof of being "really trans", and feeling better later is not something to expect within weeks.

Fat redistribution, face and skin

Facial softening is often among the first visible changes. Body shape follows much more slowly. Several women say it took around two years for their body to look clearly female again, and some noticed that big changes came after periods of losing and regaining weight.

Fat redistribution takes time. I've recently hit 2 years off of T and it took about that time for my body to really look feminine again. —wipers86, detrans female

Skin is commonly described as the earliest welcome change. One woman noticed it improving after testosterone had given her "dry, thin crepe-y inner arm skin" (patrello, detrans female). Acne often flares and then settles. Bone structure that changed during adolescence, broad shoulders, and a thicker neck after many years of use do not reverse, although some long-term users describe a noticeable reduction in neck and shoulder bulk as muscle is lost.

Known risks

Stopping testosterone ends exposure to the drug. It does not undo what the drug has already done, and the period after stopping has risks of its own. No study has followed a group of female detransitioners after they stopped, so the table draws on drug labelling, guidelines, fertility studies of trans men who paused testosterone, research on women who lost ovarian function for other reasons, and detransitioners' own accounts.

Unknowns. Nobody has measured how long the low-hormone gap usually lasts, how often the ovaries fail to recover, or whether recovery is worse after many years on testosterone or after starting in adolescence. There are no fracture or bone-density studies of female detransitioners, and no data on whether heart and blood-vessel changes fully reverse. Whether abrupt stopping is riskier than tapering has never been tested. Because people who stop usually leave gender clinics, their outcomes are rarely recorded. The absence of data on these questions does not mean the risks are small.

What detransitioners report

The accounts below come from /r/detrans and are a self-selected sample, not a measured rate. They describe what the period after stopping can involve when it goes badly. Many other women describe recovery, covered further down this page.

Some describe the ovaries not recovering, and serious health scares in the months after stopping:

I'm currently dealing with a dramatic hormone imbalance after stopping T 5 years ago. I have no uterus, but I still have ovaries that are apparently not functioning anymore. The resulting symptoms have been fatigue, headaches, joint issues, weight gain, extreme pain. —Brbirb, detrans female

Horrible mood swings, hot flashes periodically, extreme sudden hair loss (Telogen Effluvium, or other hormonal related hair problems), are just some of the things that can happen to you, and that I experienced going cold turkey off T permanently. I also got crazy ovarian cysts before I started my cycle again after quitting —evefromvenus, detrans female

Bone loss during long periods without estrogen is a warning that comes up repeatedly:

I was without oestrogen for years and in that time, I developed a pre-stage of osteoporosis. A year after I'd started producing oestrogen again, I tripped and broke a lot of bones. It was horrific —Nevermore1895, desisted female

Some find that pelvic and vaginal problems do not simply resolve, and that bleeding can return in disordered ways:

My atrophy definitely felt worse after stopping T. Not sure why since I arguably had higher levels of E in my system… 4yrs off T and I still need it occasionally. Atrophy somewhat reversed but I had a pretty bad painful case. —Emotional_Plant_6404, detrans female

I have a lot of pelvic floor problems, pretty much every time I cough or laugh some urine escapes… When I went off testosterone I had “periods” that were 3-9 weeks straight of bleeding vaginally every 2-6 months. —ourladyofakita, detrans female

Even years after stopping T my periods are irregular and I often have random aches and pains around my ovaries that I didn't use to before HRT. —snu-snu-tyme, detrans female

Others describe the first months as exhausting, and the voice as a source of pain as well as grief:

Yes, extremely exhausted the first 6 months after stopping. Very emotional & depressed as well. Had joint pain that only recently subsided. —easier_2_run, detrans female

I've had problems with pain in my throat, but only after quitting T. A doctor thought it might have been the rapid hormonal changes that made my vocal cords weird. For a couple of years I had pretty much daily pain and couldn't really talk at times —anonymous1111199992, detrans

Single accounts cannot show what caused a symptom. Some of these women had other conditions, and some may have had problems that would have appeared anyway. But they share a common thread: the women had to work out what was happening largely on their own. The sections below describe the main changes in more detail.

What does not fully revert

Testosterone in females produces some changes that are structural rather than hormonal. Stopping the hormone removes the stimulus but cannot undo the tissue change. The commonly listed permanent effects are voice deepening, facial and body hair, clitoral enlargement and androgenic hair loss. Detransitioners' accounts show that "permanent" is often partial: many describe some movement back, but rarely a full return.

Voice

Testosterone thickens the vocal folds. Studies of trans men show average speaking pitch dropping into the typical male range within a year, with large differences between individuals (longitudinal study of 50 trans men). Because the change is in the tissue, stopping does not restore the old pitch. Detransitioners do describe the voice settling once the cracking phase ends, and several report modest natural lightening years later. The larger changes they describe come from deliberate training:

(I want to point out that I trained it on my own A Lot the first 1-2 years off T, so it wasn't just time reversing my voice. Sadly, it really doesn't change much, if at all, unless it's re-trained). —NamelessDragon30, detrans female

Voice training for detransitioned women usually means learning to speak with a lighter resonance and a higher habitual pitch. Many women say they borrowed techniques from trans-women voice guides. Results vary. Some say they are never questioned now; others still find their voice the hardest change to live with. One woman described grieving her singing voice "for months" (No_Tart_7097, detrans female). A few mention voice-feminisation surgery, but it is rare and has its own risks.

Facial and body hair

Body hair usually thins and grows more slowly after stopping. Facial hair typically persists. One woman said she "was off T probably two years before starting laser and I still had an almost full beard" (NamelessDragon30, detrans female). Laser hair removal destroys follicles with light absorbed by the hair's pigment, so it works best on dark hair against lighter skin and usually takes several sessions. Electrolysis treats each follicle individually with current. It works on any hair colour but is slower. Commenters often describe combining the two, and some describe needing occasional top-up sessions.

For many women, hair removal is about more than looks. Being visibly bearded as a woman can be dangerous and isolating. Removing the beard can also feel like a final step:

I stopped for a while and had a freak out moment because I was afraid of leaving the invisibility and safety of hiding out as "male." Proceeding with hair removal was the point of no return for detransing. Once I did it, I couldn't really pass as male again. —L82Desist, detrans female

Some detransitioned women choose to keep facial hair or simply manage it. That is a valid way to live as a gender non-conforming woman. Whether to remove it is a personal choice, not a test of whether someone has "really" detransitioned.

Clitoral growth

Clitoral enlargement starts early on testosterone and is widely described as permanent. Detransitioners' accounts are more mixed. Some report noticeable shrinkage over a year or two; others report little change apart from losing erections. A mouse study found clitoral size stayed enlarged after testosterone was stopped, even though the reproductive cycle recovered fully (2021 mouse-model study). As one commenter noted:

Going off testosterone isn't researched (going on testosterone barely is) so a definitive answer won't be forthcoming. However I can say that while I don't think I experienced any actual shrinking, over time the decrease in vascularity made it seem like it was smaller. —pipermaru84, detransitioner

When women ask about surgical reduction on /r/detrans, other women often warn that losing sensation would be a worse outcome, and remind them that clitoral size varies widely among women who never took testosterone. Some also describe sensitivity problems: one woman wished doctors had warned that growth beyond the clitoral hood could make direct stimulation painful (Sonderosity, detrans female). See sexual function.

Scalp hair loss

Testosterone converts to DHT (dihydrotestosterone, a stronger androgen), which shrinks hair follicles in people genetically prone to pattern hair loss. When testosterone stops, the loss usually stops too. Follicles that have only shrunk can recover, while those inactive for years usually do not. Many women describe a frightening shedding phase followed by fine new growth:

Around 6 months off of T i noticed that there was a fuzzy layer of shorter hairs growing in over my whole head. It took awhile for them to grow long enough for me to show off appropriately, but I realized these are not just baby hairs and are an entirely new layer of hair coming in. —kaelpops, detrans female

Others are less fortunate. A detransitioned woman in a YouTube video points to her receded hairline and says plainly that it is permanent, along with her beard and voice.

Vaginal and pelvic changes

Testosterone causes vaginal atrophy, a thinning and drying of tissue similar to that after menopause. Some women describe dryness improving once their own estrogen returns. Others report pelvic or urinary symptoms that persist. One said "the dryness got better but the incontinence symptoms got worse and continue to do so" (Ok-Cress-436, detrans female). The long-term effects of testosterone on female anatomy have barely been studied. A 2025 qualitative study of six UK women who detransitioned found that worry about long-term health was a recurring reason for stopping, and called for research on testosterone's effects on female anatomy specifically (Lomax & Butler 2025).

Without ovaries: the special case after oophorectomy

Everything above assumes the ovaries are still there to restart. Women who had a hysterectomy with removal of both ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy) are in a different position. Once testosterone stops, their body produces almost no sex hormones. In effect they are in surgical menopause, sometimes in their twenties.

Without hormone replacement, women with surgically induced ovarian insufficiency face higher risks of bone loss, cardiovascular disease and other effects of estrogen deficiency. Reviews in women who lost their ovaries for other reasons describe estrogen therapy started close to surgery as effective at controlling symptoms and reducing illness and death (Fertility and Sterility review on surgical premature ovarian insufficiency). The 2009 guideline of the Endocrine Society (the main professional body for US hormone specialists) already suggested bone-density measurement "specifically in those who stop hormone therapy after gonadectomy" (Hembree et al. 2009). But it gave no protocol for switching back.

Detransitioners in this situation describe a hard medical and emotional transition. One woman who stopped testosterone abruptly after a hysterectomy described the switch to estrogen alone:

Estrogen alone was dreadful. I had really bad mood swings, hot flashes, low energy and low libido. —L82Desist, detrans female

She describes eventually finding a gynaecologist who specialises in menopause, and says: "I have come a long way from when I tried going cold turkey off T. I don't advise it to anyone who has had a hysterectomy." Another woman with no ovaries reported that, after 17 years on testosterone, "since getting on estrogen (no ovaries) my skin is always clear and baby smooth" (i_am_mouthy, detrans female). The grief here goes beyond hormones. It includes permanent sterility and lifelong dependence on prescriptions:

most of my grief is around the sterile aspect of it, and missing out on a lot of female bonding regarding periods and pregnancy etc. but being on hrt forever is definitely another large reason why my hysto was such an awful choice. —mushroomgf, detrans female

Women who had the uterus removed but kept their ovaries are in a different position again. They usually produce their own estrogen once testosterone stops, but they have no periods to signal recovery. Even with intact ovaries, recovery is not guaranteed. One woman who had been on high doses for eight years said her period did not return after nine months and she was "in a menopause state due to lack of hormones" until she began taking hormonal birth control and later estradiol (Comfortable_Elk_4941, detrans female). In all of these situations, managing hormones requires a doctor. Commenters repeatedly stress that going without any sex hormone for long periods is the outcome to avoid.

No protocol for coming off

Detailed clinical protocols exist for starting testosterone: dosing tables, monitoring schedules, lab targets. Nothing comparable exists for stopping it. A 2020 paper noted that "compared to the extensive protocols for working with children, adolescents and adults who wish to transition, nothing exists for those working with desisters or detransitioners" (Butler & Hutchinson 2020). A proposed typology of detransition called for clinical guidelines tailored to detransitioners (Expósito-Campos 2021). An endocrinologist's 2022 commentary in a leading endocrine journal described detransition as "an increasing and increasingly complex phenomenon" (Irwig 2022). Basic questions remain unanswered: whether to taper or stop abruptly, how long to wait before testing hormones, and when to treat a failure to recover.

In practice, accounts on /r/detrans describe everything from abrupt stopping with no follow-up to tapering over weeks under a gynaecologist. Some doctors tell patients to come back if periods have not returned in three or six months. Some endocrinologists offer no guidance at all. In a survey of 237 detransitioners (92% female), many reported needing medical help "in relation to stopping/changing hormone therapy" and described largely negative experiences with healthcare systems (Vandenbussche 2022). That survey recruited from online detrans communities, so it cannot say how common these experiences are overall. The accounts are still consistent:

My endocrinologist couldn't get rid of me fast enough. There is absolutely no detrans healthcare, I am still suffering and my doctors have no clue what to do. —neongrayjoy, detrans female

I told my transition doctor I was detransitioning. I told them I wanted to be followed up for one year in order to monitor my hormone levels and make sure I was adjusting well to the detransition. They refused, saying that they only serve trans clients, not detrans. —wildflowerden, detrans female

This gap also hides outcomes. When clinics do not record detransition and patients simply stop attending, the data that could show how women recover never gets collected. A Finnish clinic study of nine detransitioners stressed the importance of patients notifying the clinic (Kettula et al. 2025). Several women describe better experiences once they left gender services and saw a general gynaecologist or menopause specialist, who simply treated them as a woman with a hormonal problem. Others look for clinicians through detransition networks listed in the support directory. For the wider picture of harm caused by treatments without a way back, see iatrogenic harm and informed consent.

The emotional experience

Relief

Many women describe stopping testosterone as getting their feelings, energy and personality back. The emotional numbness some experienced on testosterone lifts, sometimes painfully at first.

I was emotionally dead. When I look back it's like I were somewhere else completely, or buried somewhere... That person I was while on T doesn't even feel like me. I was apathetic and my creativity had gone down the sink. When I stopped I cried non stop for about a week, it was like coming back to life. —Eerga_tnodI, detransitioner

Others describe the relief in terms of who they used to be: "I feel more connected to who I was as a little girl than who I was for 4 years as a man" (kaleice, detrans female). Some describe physical health improving too, with blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar returning to normal once hormones level out.

Grief

Relief often comes alongside grief for the changes that remain, for lost years, and sometimes for surgery that cannot be undone. For some women the permanent changes are the hardest part of the first year:

Even though I am still crying over the permanent changes, especially the hair loss, I must say that stopping T for me meant: Significant decrease in anxiety and I would say it is gone but I still overthink over my detransition progress —hobbittoisengard, detrans female

Grief can also bring back body distress. One woman explained that testosterone had made her dysphoria manageable, and stopping "left me with no protection from the toxic ideas I had about my female body" (Select-Soil3368, detrans female). The same comment describes working through this by seeing womanhood as a fact rather than a performance: "All I have to do to 'be' a woman is exist." The healing and recovery and transition regret pages discuss this process further.

Identity limbo

Physical recovery lags behind the decision, so many women spend months or years being read as male while no longer identifying that way, or being read as neither sex. This is socially awkward and can feel unsafe. Women past middle age, or those who took testosterone for many years, sometimes accept that they may be read as male for good. One said she has "made my peace with the fact that I may well be read as male for the rest of my life" (Luckyme58, detrans female). Others find that a masculine-looking woman is simply what they are, and are happy to live as a tomboy or butch woman without needing a label. The practical side of this period, including names, documents, family and work, is covered in social and practical detransition.

The detransitioned woman in the video quoted above sums up both the limits and the hope. Transition is "largely irreversible", she says, yet she is now in a loving relationship, and tells younger detransitioners who feel ruined that it can happen for them too (video). More detransitioned women's accounts are in the video archive.

Summary

• Stopping testosterone ends the added androgen within days to months, depending on the formulation. The body's own hormone cycle then needs weeks to more than a year to restart, and many women go through a hormonal low in the meantime.
• Periods, skin, fat distribution, muscle mass and body hair commonly move back towards female patterns. Voice depth, facial hair, clitoral growth and long-established hair loss largely do not, although many describe partial improvement.
• Women without ovaries have no endogenous hormones to fall back on, and their situation needs medical management.
• There is no established clinical protocol for coming off testosterone, and published research on what happens afterwards in females is very limited.
• Relief, grief and a period of identity limbo often happen together. Accounts describe the emotional low as easing over time.

Related pages

• Testosterone in females
• Stopping estrogen (male detransitioners)
• Hysterectomy
• Fertility and sexual function
• Healing and recovery
• Social and practical detransition
• Study archive and support directory

References

• Butler, C. & Hutchinson, A. (2020). The pressing need for research and services for gender desisters/detransitioners. Child and Adolescent Mental Health. study page, source.
• Expósito-Campos, P. (2021). A Typology of Gender Detransition and Its Implications for Healthcare Providers. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy. study page, source.
• Vandenbussche, E. (2022). Detransition-Related Needs and Support: A Cross-Sectional Online Survey. Journal of Homosexuality. study page, source.
• Lomax, J. & Butler, C. (2025). Narratives of Adults Registered Female at Birth Who Started a Medical Transition and Later Detransitioned. Archives of Sexual Behavior. study page, source.
• Kettula, K. et al. (2025). Gender Dysphoria and Detransitioning in Adults: An Analysis of Nine Patients from a Gender Identity Clinic from Finland. Archives of Sexual Behavior. study page, source.
• Irwig, M. S. (2022). Detransition Among Transgender and Gender-Diverse People—An Increasing and Increasingly Complex Phenomenon. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 107(10), e4261–e4262. source.
• Hembree, W. C. et al. (2009). Endocrine Treatment of Transsexual Persons: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. source.
• Reversibility of Testosterone-Induced Acyclicity after Testosterone Cessation in a Transgender Mouse Model (2021). F&S Science. source (includes summary of human data, e.g. Light et al. 2014).
• Fertility treatment outcomes in transgender men with a history of testosterone therapy (2023). F&S Reports. source.
• Cryopreservation after long-term testosterone therapy in the trans-male patient. Journal of Case Reports and Images in Obstetrics and Gynecology. source.
• Effects on Voice Fundamental Frequency and Satisfaction with Voice in Trans Men during Testosterone Treatment — A Longitudinal Study. source.
• Hormone replacement therapy in young women with surgical primary ovarian insufficiency. Fertility and Sterility. source.
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Testosterone Cypionate Injection: prescribing information (2022), section 9 "Drug Abuse and Dependence". source.
• Hembree, W. C. et al. (2017). Endocrine Treatment of Gender-Dysphoric/Gender-Incongruent Persons: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 102(11):3869–3903. source.
• UCSF Transgender Care. Bone health and osteoporosis. source.
• BASHH. Best practice statement on the management of testosterone-associated vulvovaginitis. source.
• Madsen, M. C. et al. (2021). Erythrocytosis in a Large Cohort of Trans Men Using Testosterone: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study on Prevalence, Determinants, and Exposure Years. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. source.