A Canadian man had two healthy fingers amputated to treat his “body integrity dysphoria,” a case report about his procedure reveals.
The 20-year-old ambidextrous man experienced “profound distress” over his left hand’s fourth and fifth fingers and decided to have them amputated, according to the case report, which was published March 27 in Clinical Case Reports, an open access medical journal.
Body integrity dysphoria is the rare phenomenon of individuals wanting to amputate parts of their body, usually limbs, often because they feel the body part does not belong to them.
The young man opted for amputation after non-invasive treatments “proved unsuccessful,” the report says.
“Despite ethical concerns and limited literature on [body integrity dysphoria], the decision to proceed with elective surgery was based on the patient’s sustained desire, potential risks of…
