Updated: April 10, 2017

Nearly two years after announcing her transition, Caitlyn Jenner, in her upcoming memoir, The Secrets of My Life, reveals that she underwent gender reassignment surgery in January 2017.

According to Radar Online, Jenner writes: “I just want to have all the right parts. I am going to live authentically for the first time in my life. I am going to have an enthusiasm for life that I have not had in 39 years since the Olympics, almost two thirds of my life.”

Originally Published: April 24, 2015

Olympic gold medalist and popular TV personality, Bruce Jenner, came out to ABC’s Diane Sawyer on Friday night that he is transgender, confirming years of rumors that he is undergoing a gender transition.

“For all intents and purposes, I am a woman,” Jenner, 65, states. “My heart and soul — everything that I do in life — it is part of me. That female side is part of me. That’s who I am.”

Jenner’s public interview is finally shedding much-needed awareness and education on the topic. But for the general public, gossip, media speculation and overall lack of understanding have led to many harmful misconceptions about transitioning and marginalized the transgender population. We spoke to three plastic surgeons, all who specialize in facial feminization surgeries and see transgender patients, to dispel some of the most common myths.

Myth 1: Transitioning or transgender people are confused.

Transgender people are not confused about their gender — in fact, it’s quite the opposite. “Transgender women or men know of their gender for years — specifically since they’re about the age of 6,” says Boston plastic surgeon Jeffrey Spiegel MD. “The challenge is that while they know their true gender, they are unable to have others recognize them and see them for who they know they are.” Jenner said he was about 8 or 9 when he first knew.

“However, while a person may know for a very long time or their entire lives that they are a trans person, it might take them 40 or 50 years to admit that because of the social implications that may have,” explains  San Francisco plastic and craniofacial surgeon Jordan Deschamps-Braly M.D. “It is a very heart-wrenching thing because feeling stuck in one’s own body is one of the most unrelenting psychological forces in someone’s life. Nothing that makes that go away and people bury it for years and years.”