Mumbai: Two years after first seeking permission from the state’s police department and the government to undergo genital reconstruction, police constable Lalita Salve had his first surgery early on Friday morning.
Starting at around 8 a.m., the surgery took almost three hours, and Lalit, as he has called himself for some years now, was eventually wheeled out of the operation theatre around 2.15 p.m.
Mr. Salve, 29, who was recruited into the police as a female constable, will now be a male constable in police records; he had filed an application for the change through a lawyer in 2017, in anticipation of the surgery.
His uncle, Bharat Bansode, who had accompanied him to Mumbai, adhered to the hospital’s advice and declined questions from the media, saying only that the family was happy that the procedure went well.
Dr Rajat Kapoor, the plastic surgeon who did the procedure, said that all went as planned and there were no complications.
At birth Mr. Salve, who has the XY chromosomes of a biological male, was assigned female gender because of underdeveloped genitalia; but he . Dr. Kapoor said that the patient’s penis was embedded inside tissue in the genital area, and one of the tasks was to free it; the penis now measures six centimetres. Correspondingly, the urethra — the channel through which urine flows out of the body — was extremely small, Dr. Kapoor said. “We have elongated the urethra. The conduit that we have created will be completed in the second stage surgery in the next three or six months. We will observe it till then.”
The rudimentary tube that was constructed in the surgery will enable Mr. Salve to urinate while standing. Doctors also carried out an erection test through stimulation, and it was positive. The construction of the conduit will be completed in the next stage of surgery.
Although Mr. Salve was born with testes, one was surgically removed at age seven, because a doctor mistook it for a tumour. This may result in reduced sperm counts and testosterone production. “Post the surgical procedures, we will have to examine the sperm and hormone production with one testes,” Dr. Kapoor said. “He may need medication if the production is not optimal.” Since Mr Salve has low hair growth on his body, doctors say he may need a hair transplant if he wants a beard. “He can choose what the style of beard and mustache he wants,” Dr Kapoor said. “Nowadays, most patients want a Virat Kohli style.” Dr. Kapoor said. The entire procedure — complete reconstruction of the genitalia, facial hair transplants, hormone examination, etc. — will take up to two years to complete.
Dr. Kapoor, who has done more than 70 genital reconstruction surgeries, says that his patients are usually people born with congenital malformations, accident victims, or those with malformations related to infections. Mr. Salve’s is the first case he has seen of a male raised as a female due to congenital malformations. “I would say this is a ‘rarest of rare’ case, He has really gone through a lot of hardships.”
