A man in Canada had two fingers amputated to cure his body dysmorphia.
The anonymous patient, 20, said that since he was little he had “incessant” and intrusive thoughts about the fourth and fifth fingers of his left hand.
His doctors at Quebec’s Laval University wrote that while he understood the fingers were his, he felt they “should not belong to his body.”
The sawmill worker suffered nightmares about his fingers burning or rotting, and even considered building a small makeshift guillotine because “he couldn’t imagine living many years with those fingers.”
The medical team said the patient wanted a surgical amputation because otherwise he would do it alone, “with the goal of alleviating his intense suffering.”
An unnamed patient in Canada had two fingers removed because he felt they “should not belong on his body,” his doctors wrote in a case report.
Australian Robert Vickers (above) suffered BIID and twice used dry ice to damage his leg beyond repair, forcing doctors to amputate it.
However, after doctors removed both of his fingers, the man’s emotional distress immediately dissipated.
Doctors diagnosed him with body integrity and identity disorder (BIID), a rare form of body alteration. Dysmorphia that causes patients to want at least one healthy limb amputated or become paralyzed.
BIID can affect any part of the body, including legs, arms, fingers and toes, eyes, ears, and teeth.
TO study 2023 in Healthcare magazine found that most patients choose to have their left leg removed. Some participants said they chose the left instead of the right because they needed their right leg to drive.
Only 200 cases have been reported in the medical literature so far, and experts are still working to find the cause of this strange condition. However, it is believed to be due to a mismatch between a person’s mental image of their body and their actual appearance.
TO study 2020 Cell magazine, for example, recruited 16 men who wanted to remove their healthy left leg from an online support group.
The team found that people with BIID had notable changes in their brain structure, such as the paracentral lobe, which controls how we feel and interpret feedback from the lower extremities.
These patients had reduced connectivity between the paracentral lobe and other areas of their brain.
Additionally, the right superior parietal lobe, which is responsible for a person’s total body image, had reduced connectivity and lower gray matter density. Gray matter is needed to help regulate emotions.
Researchers in the case report said the distress caused by BIID could lead patients to “attempt self-amputation, putting their lives at risk.”
“The limited literature on this condition poses challenges in establishing clear guidelines and recommendations,” the team wrote.
“Patients often hesitate to seek help from healthcare professionals and turn to Internet forums for advice, complicating assessment of the true prevalence of BID.”
“However, surgery should be carefully considered as a treatment option for this lesser-known disorder.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, patients who self-harm by amputating their own limbs can suffer uncontrolled bleeding, infections, nerve damage, severe pain, and phantom limb pain—the perception of pain or discomfort in a limb that no longer exists. .
Although many patients choose to keep their symptoms a secret, others have spoken of their intense desire to amputate their own limbs.
Australia’s Robert Vickers, for example, told the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) that since he was just 10 years old, he felt like his left leg below the knee didn’t belong to the rest of his body.
This led him to use dry ice twice to damage his leg, although neither attempt worked.
“I would appreciate it if a surgeon or hospital in the Sydney area could come forward and potentially offer me their services,” he said. It is unclear whether any doctors ultimately complied.
The case study was published in the journal Clinical case reports.