Girl With Rare Condition Gets OK to Have Testicles Removed

Tuesday, April 27, 2010
 

An Australian family court has given the OK for a 14-year-old girl — born with a rare genotype — to have surgery to remove two testicles, the Courier Mail reported.

The parents of the girl, known in the case as "Sally", had to apply to the court for permission for the surgery after they discovered their daughter had androgen insensitivity syndrome, which means she is genetically male, with one X chromosome and one Y chromosome.

People with this condition have the external sex characteristics of females, but do not have a uterus, the National Institutes of Health said on its Web site. Instead, individuals have male internal sex organs (testes) that are undescended.

The court heard “Sally” had been a healthy girl until she turned 11-years-old and discovered two lumps, one of which was in her abdomen.

"It hurts sometimes, knowing I have this condition," the teenager told the court. "Sometimes I blame myself, because I feel like I am not normal. Sometimes I get angry, even though I know why and how it happened."

The court also approved other procedures to confirm her gender.

Click here to read more from the Courier Mail.