Elective Home Surgery FAQ
Warning: This document is not written by medical professionals, and may contain numerous errors. It is intended as a starting point and introduction for those interested in this subject, but is by no means complete. Readers are strongly urged to do as much research of their own as possible, as well as speaking to their doctor before seeking out any such procedures.
Having this document hopefully will make people think a bit harder about what they're doing so they can make the safest possible decision. In addition, it is BME's belief that, ultimately, a person has total authority over their body, and, given a sound mind, they have every right to pursue any body modification dreams they may have.
Please be aware that the authors of this document have no officially recognized medical training. Before undertaking any procedures, please consult your physician.
Given that most of the surgical modifications sought out by body modification enthusiasts aren't currently offered by doctors and that qualified practitioners are sometimes difficult to locate, many have chosen to go ahead and perform their own surgical procedures such as tongue splitting, meatotomy, subincision, and even more serious procedures such as castrations and implants.
This is certainly a valid option, while not an "officially" recommended one. However, it is important that you are competent to do the modification. Do not underestimate how difficult it is to work on yourself—balance the risks of self-modification with the benefits.
At an utter minimum, have a friend assist you or at least be there to help should things go badly. Alternately, let someone know that you're doing the procedure so there's someone to call an ambulance if you don't check in with them. The big risk with doing procedures on yourself is how to handle unforeseen complications. It's not as if you can give yourself CPR if you pass out for some reason.
It goes without saying that you can put yourself at serious risk of some major complications such as bleeding and infection by performing your own procedures, but with extensive education and preparation, there is an amazing success ratio for these at-home procedures.
Contents
- 1 Legality
* 1.1 Possessing Medical Tools
* 3.1 Gloves * 3.2 Clean space * 3.3 (Unused) Tools * 3.4 Disposal
- 4 Supplies
- 5 Anesthesia
* 5.1 Topical Anesthetics * 5.2 Injectable Anesthetics * 5.3 Epinephrine * 5.4 Ice * 5.5 Rubber Bands and Clamps
- 6 Risks
* 6.1 Procedure Viability * 6.2 Bleeding * 6.3 When You Need an Ambulance * 6.4 When You Need a Doctor
Legality
In general, it is not illegal to perform procedures on yourself, assuming you are able to legally possess the supplies you used, and there are no criminal charges I know of that could apply in a failed self-procedure. That said, if you require medical assistance from the government, they may require that you speak with a psychiatrist. If they determine that you are mentally unfit and are a danger to yourself, the state can and will commit you for psychiatric treatment. (more coming soon)
Possessing Medical Tools
In most places it is legal for a private citizen with no medical training to acquire with no questions asked (from gray suppliers) and own most medical supplies. It is, however, usually not legal for them to perform medical procedures—it should be mentioned though that "medical procedure" is a very gray term, and it is unclear as to exactly how the courts would interpret all procedures. (more coming soon)
In many places it is legal for a private citizens to possess anesthetics, and in many other places it is illegal on some level— you should definitely check your local laws. Actually using anesthetics on others is usually not legal for non-medically recognized practitioners. (more coming soon)
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Sterilization
For more information, please see Sterilization
Gloves
Gloves are important for two primary reasons. First of all, they allow you to control cross-contamination as above. Equally importantly though, your hands—and your entire dermis—are absolutely saturated with bacteria and viruses of all kinds. Some of these microbes are "friendly," but many are not. Your skin is pretty good at protecting you from them, but assuming that the procedure breaks the skin, you lose most of that protection.
It is very strongly recommended that gloves be used, even if you're just working on yourself.
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Supplies
First of all let me urge anyone looking for supplies to first be totally sure that they won't hurt themselves or others with these supplies. Then, you should make sure that the supplies you're buying are at least gray legal in your area; it's not worth getting arrested for something as minor as possession of medical supplies.
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Risks
Generally, you can never really know whether a procedure is safe. Common sense and research can certainly let you make an educated guess, but there are a million things that can, in theory, go wrong, even with top doctors, so you should definitely consider the realistic safety level very carefully.
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Resources
Other than BME, there are no regular publications about home surgery. That said, there are many online mailing lists that discuss the subject peripherally (for example, the non-fiction eunuch issues mailing list).
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