Elective Amputation – People Are Choosing To Have Healthy Limbs Removed
It’s not totally understood, but it’s considered a form of body dysmorphia, and people are choosing to have perfectly healthy limbs removed.
By DAVID on June 19, 2018
It’s body modification to a whole new level. Some people are actually not only choosing to have perfectly healthy limbs removed from their bodies, they’re even performing the surgeries themselves. Psychology Professor Dr. Michael First is calling it body integrity identity disorder, or BIID for short.
Some people choose to get tattoos, others might do piercing. Plastic surgery in another thing that people will have done to change their appearance, for a variety of reasons. But elective amputation is a new one to us. One person who explains his feelings for elective amputations says that he has “extra” limbs, and that they “feel alien.” He explains in colorful detail how he went about the first two, but he says about his toes “And now I am working on my third toe – it is bent at an angle towards where the others used to be.”
Much like those who have a sexual realignment surgery, some of those with BIID just feel like they’re doing it “how it should be.” It’s sort of hard to explain, but I think you get it. How some of those with BIID are going about the surgeries is questionable though. Some injure themselves with guns or chainsaws, according to Howard Bull, a 54-year-old body modifier. Others have even laid down on train tracks, he says. Howard’s ultimate goal? He wants his left leg amputated just above the knee. That’s oddly specific. It’s a very fascinating topic to read about, and doctors are still learning about it since it’s just so rare and unique. See some more about BIID over here.
