Mumbai: Lalita, or Lalit, as he prefers to be called, Salve, a 29-year-old police constable from Beed, found medical affirmation that he is really a man biologically. Rajat Kapoor, the plastic surgeon who will be performing the first of several reconstruction surgeries on Mr. Salve said that it was not a case of gender dysphoria — when a person’s biological sex and self identification of gender are not the same, and they feel like they’re trapped in the wrong body — but of mistaken identity due to underdeveloped genitalia at birth.
Dr. Kapoor, who has carried out close to 70 genital reconstruction surgeries in the last 10 years, described it as an “an extremely rare case.” Reconstructive surgery is usually done for congenital anomalies, trauma due to accidents and infection-related deformities. Mr. Salve’s case is a congenital anomaly, he said. “He has simply been raised in a wrong gender just because the anomalous genitalia looked more like that of a female.”
Mr. Salve has male XY chromosomes, but was born with small male genitalia, including a rudimentary penis. He does not have internal female organs like a uterus or ovaries.
He had one of his testes removed by a surgeon when he was seven years old, as a doctor mistook it as a tumour. Aside from making sperm, testes also produce hormones, mainly testosterone, which plays a key role in male fertility, the production of muscle mass, body hair, and other secondary sexual characteristics. Doctors say that the removal could explain Mr. Salve’s low body hair.
Mr. Salve, says he is nervous yet ecstatic about the change. His uncle, Bharat Bansode, who had accompanied him to Mumbai for the surgery, said, “It is very unique situation for our family. But Lalit had managed to explain his trauma to us. It was when the doctors confirmed his belief that we realised the entire situation.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Salve underwent a series of medical tests at the St George Hospital before the first surgery, scheduled for Friday. Dr Kapoor said that Mr. Salve is also extremely fit psychologically.
Friday’s surgery, which may last two hours, will involve partial creation of a tube that will enable urination in a standing position.
“After the first surgery, he may be able to go back to work in two to three weeks,” Dr. Kapoor said. “The second and the third stage surgeries will be completed over six months.” The surgeries will construct external genitalia with local tissue and some tissue from the thigh.
Dr. Kapoor, said it is a difficult surgery, and the biggest risk is urine leakage. “In this case, the tissues are not very good. We have to take new tissues with better blood supply.”
Mr. Salve may also require a hair transplant for beard growth at a later stage.
