Female student surprised when doctor said she was a boy, refused surgery

One fine day, the girl discovered she was... a boy.

On May 16, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Viet Hoa, Head of Pediatric and Neonatal Surgery Department, Viet Duc Hospital, shared about the above case.

Associate Professor Hoa said that this is the case of a 14-year-old patient in Ha Nam , whose parents took him to see an obstetrician because he had not yet had his period when he reached puberty. After being referred to Viet Duc Hospital, the chromosome diagnosis results showed that he was 100% male.

Associate Professor Tran Viet Hoa examines a child patient (Photo: T. Ngoc).

In addition, he has two testicles in his abdomen and a deformed penis, so he was mistaken for a female since birth.

"The patient was shocked and refused surgery when we advised that we could reconstruct the penis, move the two testicles back to the correct position, and that he could get married and have children (because the testicular biopsy still showed sperm production).

I asked my family for time to think, because for the past 14 years, I have lived as a woman, with long hair, playing with girls, and completely thinking of myself as a girl.

The patient's family said that when the baby was born, the obstetrician announced that it was a girl, and then saw that the baby's private parts did not look like a boy's, so the whole family assumed she was a girl, and bought her clothes and took care of her like a girl," Associate Professor Hoa informed.

The expert also added that the patient has at most 2 years to make a decision. If he undergoes gender reassignment surgery, he will have a penis reconstructed. If he removes his testicles, it will be easy, but he will not be able to have children. His family and doctors are worried that when he grows up and reaches puberty, he will regret it if he refuses gender reassignment surgery.

Medical staff can also miss

Associate Professor Hoa said that the patient had severe hypospadias, both testicles hidden in the abdomen, and from the outside, the genital area looked like a woman. Even the patient's family and the medical staff who delivered the baby mistook her for a girl.

Therefore, Associate Professor Hoa believes that, for children at birth, in addition to basic general examinations of breathing, eyes, nose, hands, feet... doctors should not ignore a very simple thing, which is to check whether the child's genitals are normal.

In addition, if parents see abnormalities in their child's genitals, they should see a pediatrician for early examination, consultation, and testing to determine gender.

"There was a 2-year-old patient, we performed surgery to restore the correct gender, the patient had a new birth certificate, lived the correct gender since childhood, much more favorable than older cases.

Like the 14-year-old patient above, he has played with girls since he was little and lived in a female body. Therefore, to live in a new identity as a boy, the patient is not ready," Associate Professor Hoa said.

Dr. Hoa said that severe cases of hypospadias, detected and treated early (such as cryptorchidism before 1 year of age, hypospadias before 2 years of age), all give good results in terms of external genitalia shape and psychology, reducing the risk of infection.

A baby has an abnormality that causes the belly to be as round as a ball (Photo: Hong Hai).

According to Associate Professor Hoa, congenital malformations in children are very diverse. Children may have genitourinary malformations such as kidney dilatation, low urethra, curved or sunken penis, undescended testicles, etc.; sexual development disorders, clitoral hypertrophy, vulvar adhesions, no vagina; digestive foreign bodies such as constipation, intestinal dilatation, anal fistula, ectopic anus, etc.

Children may have pathological tumors such as liver tumors, kidney tumors, pancreatic tumors, choledochal cysts, ovarian tumors, hemangiomas, lymphangiomas, etc.; congenital cardiovascular and thoracic malformations such as congenital heart disease, concave and convex chest, pulmonary cysts, etc.; motor organ malformations such as syndactyly, extra toes, clubfoot, scoliosis, cleft lip and palate, etc.

Associate Professor Hoa said that each year, the department receives about 10,000 children for examination and performs an average of 2,000 surgeries, including many complicated medical cases.

Nowadays, many birth defects can be detected prenatally and treated promptly after birth.

However, if urinary-genital abnormalities are not clearly manifested, it is very difficult to detect early.

Therefore, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital organizes a free screening, consultation and ultrasound program for pediatric diseases to detect early and intervene promptly in congenital malformations in children.

The program takes place from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., May 24, at clinic number 419 - 4th floor, building H, Examination - Emergency and Day Treatment Center, Viet Duc Hospital.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/nu-sinh-ngo-ngang-khi-bac-si-noi-minh-la-con-trai-tu-choi-phau-thuat-20250516225836132.htm