It was the year 1862. R.S. Mair, MD, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, Deputy Coroner of Madras and Surgeon, Infantry Volunteer Guards, Madras, was at home when an Englishwoman of 21 years was shown into his residence …
It was the year 1862. R.S. Mair, MD, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, Deputy Coroner of Madras and Surgeon, Infantry Volunteer Guards, Madras, was at home when an Englishwoman of 21 years was shown into his residence …
The medical problem described in your column is better referred to as ‘intersex’. This term covers a variety of conditions where a disorder in the development of the primary gonads and/or the external genitalia makes it difficult to accurately choose the sex of the baby. I had the opportunity of working with late Prof K U Malathi at the Egmore Maternity Hospital in 1979 on a series of such cases. The lady referred to in your article probably had ‘testicular feminization’ or ‘androgen insensitivity syndrome’ where the child is born with normal male gonads but due to an inability of the tissues to respond to androgens develops by default female external genitalia and is brought u as a girl. The absence of uterus and ovaries and failure to start menstruation brings the problem to light at puberty.
Wow! Thank sir!