Self-surgery

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Self-surgery is the act of performing a surgical procedure on oneself. It can be an act taken in extreme circumstances out of necessity, an attempt to avoid embarrassment, legal action, or financial costs, or a rare manifestation of a psychological disorder.

Contents

Genitals

These surgeries are generally the least life-threatening. Sometimes people resort to self-surgery in the form of castration in an attempt to control their sexual urges, or due to gender dysphoria. [1] [2] [3]

Boston Corbett, the soldier who killed Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth, had performed self-surgery earlier in life. He castrated himself with a pair of scissors in order to avoid the temptation of prostitutes. Afterwards, he went to a prayer meeting and ate a meal before going for medical treatment. [4]

Abdominal

Successful abdominal self-surgery is extremely rare.[ citation needed ] A few well-publicized cases have found their way into the medical literature.

At four o'clock on the morning of his surgery, he disinfected his dormitory room with spray disinfectant and alcohol and draped an area with sheets that he had previously sterilized. For anesthesia, he took oral barbiturates. He also took hydrocortisone and prepared a canister of vaporized adrenalin, readying himself for a possible shock syndrome. He performed the procedure wearing sterile gloves and a surgical mask. Lying supine and looking into strategically placed mirrors to obtain an optimum view, he began by cleansing his abdomen with alcohol. The incision was made with a scalpel, exposure obtained by retractors, and the dissection carried out with surgical instruments. For local anesthesia, he injected lidocaine hydrochloride into each successive tissue layer during the opening. He controlled bleeding with locally applied gelatin powder, while sterilized cotton thread ligatures were used for the larger vessels. After eight hours he had had minimal blood loss but was unable to obtain adequate exposure to enter the retroperitoneal space because of the unexpected pain in retracting his liver. Exhausted, he bandaged his wound, cleaned up his room, and called the police for transport to the hospital because of a "rupture". [13]

Medically supervised

Jerri Nielsen was the sole physician on duty at the U.S. National Science Foundation Amundsen–Scott Antarctic research station in 1999 when she found a lump on her breast. She was forced to biopsy the lump herself. Her experience made international news and was the basis for her autobiography, Ice Bound. The lump was found to be cancerous, so she self-administered chemotherapeutic agents. She remained cancer-free for several years but died in 2009 after her cancer reappeared and spread to her brain.

Self-trepanation

Trepanation involves drilling a hole in the skull. The most famous instances of self-trepanation are those of Amanda Feilding, Joey Mellen (Feilding's domestic partner), and Bart Huges (who influenced Mellen and Feilding). In 2023, Michael Raduga performed self-neurosurgery that included electrical stimulation of the motor cortex. [16]

Amputation of trapped limbs

Mouth

During 1992-1993 Vendée Globe, a solo race around the world, sailor Bertrand de Broc who had been hit full in the face by a rope, had to sew his tongue himself after a doctor telexed instructions on how to sew stitches into the wound. [21]

See also

References

Citations

  1. Lowy, FH.; Kolivakis, TL. (Oct 1971). "Autocastration by a male transsexual". Can Psychiatr Assoc J. 16 (5): 399–405. doi:10.1177/070674377101600504. PMID   5151637. S2CID   42023697.
  2. Money, J.; De Priest, M. (Nov 1976). "Three cases of genital self-surgery and their relationship to transsexualism". J Sex Res. 12 (4): 283–94. doi:10.1080/00224497609550947. PMID   1018488.
  3. Money, J. (Aug 1980). "Genital self-surgery". J Urol. 124 (2): 210. doi:10.1016/s0022-5347(17)55376-8. PMID   7401235.
  4. Swanson, James L. (2007). Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. pg. 329 HarperCollins. ISBN   978-0-06-051850-9.
  5. "Dr. Evan Kane dies of pneumonia at 71" . New York Times . April 2, 1932. p. 23.
  6. Wiener, Joseph (1916). "Appendectomy Under Local Anesthesia". Journal of the American Medical Association . LXVI (15): 1078–1079. doi:10.1001/jama.1916.02580410012004.
  7. Arsen P. Fiks, Paul A. Buelow, Self-experimenters: sources for study, page 125, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003 ISBN   0-313-32348-8.
  8. "Robert McLaren Removed His Own Appendix in the Jungle - outdoorrevival". 12 October 2015.
  9. "GENERAL SAYS MC WINNER EARNED VC Surgical drama of Mindanao jungle". Argus. 1948-01-15. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  10. Rubin, Jeff (2005). Antarctica. Lonely Planet. p. 260. ISBN   1-74059-094-5.
  11. Rogozov, V.; Bermel, N.; Rogozov, LI. (2009). "Auto-appendectomy in the Antarctic: case report". BMJ. 339: b4965. doi:10.1136/bmj.b4965. PMID   20008968. S2CID   12503748.
  12. L.I. Rogozov (1964), "Self-operation" (PDF), Soviet Antarctic Expedition Information Bulletin, pp. 223–224, archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-19, retrieved 2010-01-15
  13. 1 2 Kalin, NH. (May 1979). "Genital and abdominal self-surgery. A case report". JAMA. 241 (20): 2188–9. doi:10.1001/jama.1979.03290460052021. PMID   430820.
  14. Callan, JP. (May 1979). "Surgical decisions". JAMA. 241 (20): 2193. doi:10.1001/jama.1979.03290460057024. PMID   430822.
  15. Molina-Sosa, A.; Galvan-Espinosa, H.; Gabriel-Guzman, J.; Valle, RF. (Mar 2004). "Self-inflicted cesarean section with maternal and fetal survival". Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 84 (3): 287–90. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2003.08.018. PMID   15001385. S2CID   38220990.
  16. "Man Implants Chip in His Brain to Help 'Control' His Dreams". Newsweek. July 20, 2023.
  17. "Cut or Die – Vol. 40 No. 6". 9 August 1993.
  18. Jenkins, Mark (August 1, 2003). "Aron Ralston — Between a Rock and the Hardest Place". Outside Magazine .
  19. "I cut off my arm to survive". Health. BBC News . 2002-10-23.
  20. "Aussie Miner Chops Off Arm". SkyNews.com . June 29, 2003. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012.
  21. Sailing: Stitch in time for solo yachtsman | The Independent | The Independent

Sources

Further reading