Maharashtra: 15-year-old girl finds out she is male, undergoes treatment to remain female

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A 15-year-old girl from Satara district of Maharashtra sought medical consultation after she did not start menstruating only to find out through medical tests that she is a male chromosomally.

She was diagnosed with a rare condition called "Androgen insensitivity syndrome" (AIS), a condition in which a person is born genetically male but has physical traits of a woman, reports Hindustan Times.

However, both the girl and her parents want her to retain her identity of a woman as she has been brought up as one.

Dr Manish Machave, gynaecologist and endoscopic surgeon from Ruby Hall Clinic, who diagnosed and treated her, said, "She is diagnosed with partial AIS. Androgen is a male sex hormone. In a person having AIS, the body becomes insensitive to male hormone. In the AIS-partial type, people can get a mix of male and female features. In this case, she did not develop breasts, her vaginal development is abnormal, and she does not have uterus and ovaries."

She underwent surgery to remove her gonards or testes and also went through breast augmentation surgery. Once she turns 18, doctors will be performing laparoscopic vaginoplasty (surgical creation of the vagina).

Dr Anupama Mane, breast surgeon from Ruby Hall Clinic, who performed breast augmentation surgery for her in the hospital said, "She was brought up as a girl and hence she wanted to remain so. We performed breast augmentation surgery for her. Hormonal injections will be required for things like hair growth to stop. We are assisting her to complete her transition as a female. The medical treatment to give her feminine characteristics will go on for years."

Post surgeries she will be able to live a normal life as a female but will not be able to conceive as she does not have ovaries and uterus.