[6][7] The patients talk about their lives and viewers follow them through their consultations with Bowers, the surgical procedures, and their post-surgical experience.

After the series aired on US specialty channel WE tv in 2008, it was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary.

Bowers was the subject of the 2008 documentary Trinidad;[8] she and her practice also feature in the final episode of TransGeneration, a documentary-style reality series that aired in 2005.

In each episode, two new patients of Bowers describe something of their family lives, their experiences as transgender people, and their feelings about the past and this new phase of their transition.

After surgery, once the patient is ready, Bowers visits them in their room, where they chat and talk about the surgical outcome and aftercare.

After Sex Change Hospital, World of Wonder produced a reality dating game show called Transamerican Love Story (2008).

[17][18] "While it's great that such documentaries… are making it easier to understand people who might have led completely tormented secret lives in previous generations," wrote Andrea Mullaney of The Scotsman, "focusing purely on personal stories doesn't really open up the issues behind this extraordinary development in modern times.… while their stories evoked sympathy, I wonder why no one ever asks why our gender roles have become so codified that their only option was such drastic surgery.

"[19] David Hinckley of the New York Daily News expected that the show would present some viewers with "high hurdles": transgender themes and graphic footage of surgery.

"On the other hand", he adds, "the human part of the story—the things that patients and the people in their lives go through—provides familiar dramas about conflict, doubt and reconciliation.

[20][21] The award went to Parvez Sharma's A Jihad for Love,[22] a feature-length documentary about LGBT Muslims living in different countries.