Woman's Transplanted Man Hands Become More Feminine Over Time

• 01
  
  via Straits Times

  In 2016, 18 year old Indian Shreya Siddanagowder lost both her forearms arms in a bus crash. Her arms were amputated below and she faced a life without hands. However luck favored Shreya when doctors found the perfect donor for her arm transplants. A 21 year old man had recently died in a bicycle accident and his arms were roughly the suitable size, color and blood type to be attached to Shreya's arms. But nonetheless, they were dark skinned, hairy man's hands (unlike Shreya's natural hands). 

  
  

  
  

• Advertisement
• 02
  
  via RT English

  Faced with the options of having a man's hands, or no hands at all, Shreya jumped at the opportunity to have the transplant, and after a 13 hour long transplant operation performed by a team of 20 surgeons and 16 anesthesiologists, her new arms were attached. Over the next year and a half, Shreya underwent intense physical therapy to gain control of her new hands. It was no easy feat. Fewer than 100 people in the world have undergone arm transplants, and the operation involves attaching the bones, tendons, blood vessels and skin together. 

  
  

• 03
  
  via Straits Times

  Shreya's increased control of her new hands came with another surprise: after around two years, her new hands began to change. They were originally much darker than her skin color, hairier than her body, and larger than her natural hands would have been. But soon the skin on her new hands paled to match her skin tone, the hair vanished and they became smaller and more feminine. Doctors attribute these amazing changes to the hands adapting to their new body. 

  Physiotherapist Ketaki Doke, who helped Shriya with her physiotherapy, told the Indian Express "The nerve begins to send signals — it is called reinnervation — and the muscles function according to body needs. The muscles in her hand may have started adapting to a female body." The lack of testosterone in Shriya's body helped her arms to become less hairy, and possible reasons for her skin lightening include hormonal changes, MSH (a brain-controlled hormone that stimulates melanin production), and that the hands previous owner had more sun exposure and physical activity. 

• 04
  
  via RT English

  Shriya is amazed with the results, and so are her doctors. "The best moment was when she sent me a handwritten note on my birthday. I could not have asked for a better birthday gift," said one of her doctors. 

Tags