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I’m looking for examples for something I’m writing. Trans people are diagnosed as trans based on not much more than their say-so. There are no lab tests, MRIs, CT or X-rays to diagnose it. I don’t think there’s any other medical field in which they cut off your testicles, uterus or any other organ because of the patient’s decision alone.

You can rule out cosmetic surgeries as an example, because trans surgeries aren’t just cosmetics - a double mastectomy isn’t just a breast reduction, for example.

My understanding is that psychiatric surgeries have gone mostly out of style, and while might be performed in some countries still, they’re a very rare edge case.

Thanks.
I’m looking for examples for something I’m writing. Trans people are diagnosed as trans based on not much more than their say-so. There are no lab tests, MRIs, CT or X-rays to diagnose it. I don’t think there’s any other medical field in which they cut off your testicles, uterus or any other organ because of the patient’s decision alone. You can rule out cosmetic surgeries as an example, because trans surgeries aren’t just cosmetics - a double mastectomy isn’t just a breast reduction, for example. My understanding is that psychiatric surgeries have gone mostly out of style, and while might be performed in some countries still, they’re a very rare edge case. Thanks.

41 comments

[–] IrishTheFrenchie 18 points Edited

None I can think of.

The closest I can get is maybe convincing a doctor to do a biopsy based on a patient listing symptoms that can otherwise not be corroborated.

But even then I think they’d do ultrasounds and CT scans and not an actual biopsy.

[–] Sylvanas [OP] 7 points

Interesting example. I didn’t realise that biopsies count as surgeries tbh. Would doctors perform a biopsy on a tissue that’s not been diagnosed as abnormal by other means? As in, would a doctor give you a biopsy based on your report that you have pain in the area?

[–] IrishTheFrenchie 13 points

I don’t think they would do a biopsy based on say so. It was sort of me really reaching for an example. 😁

I would consider it a “procedure” but some would call it a minor surgery.

[–] ProxyMusic 4 points

Biopsy is "an examination of tissue removed from a living body to discover the presence, cause, or extent of a disease"

Surgery is "the branch of medical practice that treats injuries, diseases, and deformities by the physical removal, repair, or readjustment of organs and tissues, often involving cutting into the body"

A biopsy is done in a lab on tissue/an organ that's been removed during a surgery to treat an already-established health problem, or on a very small amount of tissue, fluid or cells removed for the express purpose of sending it to a pathology lab for evaluation so that disease can be diagnosed or ruled out.

If a person has surgical removal of say, their appendix, uterus, ovary, gall bladder or a lymph node, mole, tumor, unusual growth, section of inflamed bowel, etc, then the removed part or a sample of tissue from it automatically gets sent to a path lab for evaluation to establish scientifically whether or not there's anything abnormal about the tissue indicative of disease.

But often, people get a tiny bit of tissue, cells or fluid removed from a part of the body just for the purpose of having the tissue biopsied - as in a "needle biopsy" of tissue, cells or fluid removed by needle from a suspicious breast lump; the liver, kidneys, thyroid, testicles, cervix etc after other kinds of exams and tests have revealed the possibility of disease in those organs. A good example is the cervix: women in a certain age range have routine Pap smear tests done to collect cells for testing; if Pap smear cell testing reveals cells abnormal enough to warrant further investigation, a cervical biopsy will be done to obtain more cells/tissue from the cervix for more detailed examination.

https://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info/biopgen
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