A transgender woman needed to have one of her testicles removed because of her habit of ‘tucking,’ made famous through hit TV show Ru Paul’s Drag Race.
The unidentified 24-year-old, from the Philippines, had not yet undergone full gender reassignment surgery.
The avid cross-dresser pushed her testicles back into her stomach four times a week ever since becoming an adult, in an effort to hide her genitals.
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Her habit often caused her pain but she shrugged it off. But when pulling her testicles back down into her scrotum during her final attempt, one of them twisted around the cord it dangles from.
The grisly accident, known as testicular torsion, left the woman in unbearable pain and cut off the blood supply to her genitals.
Without urgent treatment to get the blood flowing again the testicle can die and have to be removed.
According to Daily Mail, experts said that while there is little research into the dangers of tucking, it does pose an obvious threat to testicles. They said any severe testicle pain lasting at least 20 minutes should be reported to a doctor immediately.
Tucking is a common practice in trans and drag communities, with the habit being featured in VH1’s Ru Paul’s Drag Race.
Trinity ‘The Tuck’ Taylor, a contestant from the show’s ninth season, offers a guide on how to tuck on YouTube, which warns of the dangers of torsion towards the end.
The Filipino woman who suffered the injury was taking anti-androgen pills to reduce testosterone levels – she had not yet had full reassignment surgery. She sought help from the Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries in Davao City after the agonising injury.
Doctors were told she regularly tucked her testicles into her inguinal canals, which are passages in the abdomen that hold the sperm cords.
Her case, published in a medical journal, also revealed she would tuck her penis and empty scrotum back between her legs.
To return her testicles back to their normal position afterward, she would tug them back out of her body by grabbing her scrotum and pulling.
Dr. Fardod O’Kelly, consultant urological surgeon at Dublin’s Beacon Hospital said the condition is a ‘surgical emergency with a countdown timer.’
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