16-year-old Chinese boy has both testicles, ovaries

Six months ago, 16-year-old Fang Ping from Anhui province, whose real name is not used here, found his nipples getting bigger. The mammary areola began to appear and the area surrounding his nipples gradually bulged.

After learning of this, his parents took him to the urology department under the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital to see a doctor. Through inspection, the doctor found that Fang's karyotype is 46xx, which means Fang has female chromosomes.

Shortly after Fang was born, his parents had found that his urethra had some problems, but the local doctor at the time diagnosed it as hypospadias, an abnormality of the urethra, and he also was also diagnosed with cryptorchidism, the absence of one or both testes. When he was two years old, his parents took him to the local hospital for a hypospadias neoplastic operation and also a testicular operation when he was 6.

When he was a child, Fang was smaller and weaker than common boys and not as naughty and powerful as them. At about 14 years old, Fang was a head shorter than other boys his age.

At the urology department under the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Dai Yutian, the director, inspected Fang's karyotype when he learned Fang's experience and found that it was 46xx, namely it is a female karyotype.

Dai then inspected Fan's testicles and found one is a testicle and the other is an ovary. Through an ultrasound examination, they found a uterus in his pelvis but it is smaller than normal females. The hormone examination showed that Fang's male hormones were lower than normal males, while his female hormones were very high.

Based on these inspection results, Dai was diagnosed with a true hermaphroditic condition. It may be a result from genetics, gene mutation, environmental pollution or infection during pregnancy.

As Fang was brought up as a boy, and both his parents and he are unable to accept the fact that he is a girl. Learning that Fang still wants to be a boy, Dai performed a surgery for him.

Yangtse Evening Post contributes to this story.

By People's Daily Online