Written and reviewed by Valérie. Last updated November 2026. This page summarises published research and is not medical advice; it cannot replace a clinician who knows your history.
The short answer: most people who tuck report either no problems or mild ones, and the most common complaints are itching, rash and testicular pain. In a 2024 survey of 98 patients, 65% of those who tucked reported at least one side effect, but most were mild and 10% sought medical care. The finding that should change what you do is this: risk tracked with cumulative hours per day, not with how many years someone had been tucking. Breaks are the intervention the evidence supports.
What has actually been studied
Not much, and that is worth saying first. Two studies carry most of the weight here, both small, both surveys, both published in the last few years. Anyone telling you tucking is definitively safe or definitively harmful is going beyond what exists.
The larger of the two surveyed 98 adults across six clinics in the University of Virginia system; 79% of respondents tucked (Source: Kidd N, Mark K, Dart M, Casey C, Rollins L. Genital Tucking Practices in Transgender and Gender Diverse Patients. Ann Fam Med. 2024;22(2):149–153). The second surveyed 79 transgender adults in Baltimore, of whom 74.7% had tucked at some point (Source: NCBI, Tucking Practices and Attributed Health Effects in Transfeminine Individuals).
Both are self-reported, both come from populations already in contact with healthcare, and both authors say so. Treat the numbers below as the best available picture rather than a settled one.
What people reported
| Reported effect | Proportion | Study |
|---|---|---|
| At least one side effect | 65% | Ann Fam Med 2024 |
| Gonad pain | 32% | Ann Fam Med 2024 |
| Sought medical care for an effect | 10% | Ann Fam Med 2024 |
| Itching | 27.1% | Baltimore survey |
| Rash | 20.3% | Baltimore survey |
| No attributed problems at all | 40.7% | Baltimore survey |
Two things stand out. The majority reported something, and the majority of what they reported was minor. Rare serious events appeared as single open-text answers rather than as patterns.
The finding that should change what you do
In the Annals study, side-effect risk rose significantly with cumulative daily tucking duration (P = 0.046). Age was not associated with anything. Years of practice was not the variable that mattered.
Hours in a day were.
That is a more useful result than it sounds, because hours are the one thing you can change without giving anything up. In the Baltimore survey, 79.3% averaged more than eight hours a day and 44.8% averaged seventeen or more. Seventeen hours is most of a waking day; it is what happens when you put something on because you are going out and then simply do not take it off.
About half the people in the Annals study already took breaks. If you do not, that is the change with the most evidence behind it, and it costs nothing. The first hour is never the problem. Hour nine is the one that tells you something, and it usually tells you at the fabric edge rather than where you would expect.
Method matters, and tape is the outlier
In the Baltimore survey, 72.9% used a gaff and 62.7% used tight briefs; the two overlap, because people switch depending on the day. Duct tape came in at 10.2%, with smaller numbers using surgical or sports tape, shapewear, layered underwear or tights.
Adhesive against skin that is warm, damp and under pressure is a different proposition from fabric, and the skin complaints in both studies are the ones you would predict from that. If you are getting rashes and you are using tape, change the variable that is easiest to change first.
Fabric is not automatically gentle either. A gaff that is too small concentrates pressure at the edges, and a seam sitting in a crease for twelve hours will do the same work as a bad shoe. Fit does more here than material does.
When to get something looked at
Sudden severe testicular pain is the one that should not wait; testicular torsion is among the risks the Annals authors tell clinicians to discuss, and it is time-critical. Blood in the urine, fever alongside genital pain, or skin that has broken rather than reddened also warrant being seen.
Persistent itching or a rash that keeps coming back is worth a visit even though it is rarely serious, because the alternative is treating it yourself for months.
And it is reasonable to say you tuck. Only 23% of people in the Annals survey had ever discussed it with a clinician, while 70% said they would be comfortable doing so; the gap is on the clinician's side of the conversation more often than on yours. The authors of both studies recommend a harm-reduction approach rather than discouragement, which means a good clinician should be helping you do this more comfortably rather than telling you to stop.
Common questions
Where to start
If you take one thing from the research, take the break. Then look at fit, because most of the skin complaints in both studies are the kind that fit and material cause rather than the practice itself. More from this section is on the For Trans Women page.