JesusA (imported) wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2004 10:02 pm All of the answers so far have seriously considered trained surgeons working in a sterile environment....... Previously you have asked Oberführer Brack to perform this work, and you supported it by providing the adequate material in the concentration camp Auschwitz. As I have convinced myself, operative castration requires not more than 6 to 7 minutes,..... Though I’ve done goats and steers without any pain killers, I certainly care too much about my dogs and cats to allow veterinarians to castrate them without anesthesia.

This experience confirms the collective experience once might garner from the numerous stories in the eunuch archive. Surgical removal of a man's testes, often including amputation of the scrotum, can go quite quickly, especially if it isn't slowed by injection of local anesthetic - or application of a topical anesthetic - and the wait for it to take effect.

My own castration in a non-medical theatre took longer than most of the medical procedures described above. The cutter, an experienced vet's assistant, had done dozens of domestic animals. It was agreed that the procedure would have as little trauma associated with it as possible. Each testicle was expressed through a small incision not more than 2 cm in length. The first incision was without local anesthetic, but in conformity with our plans to use anesthetic if I found the procedure too uncomfortable, we used it on the second testicle and for . The cutter was also careful to avoid any blood vessels or nerves, and there was consequently little blood - none ever ran onto the table on which I lay. The expression of each testicle through the small incisions took about 1/2 hour. Considerable pressure had to be applied to push the organs from the sac after the enclosing tissue had been cut with the surgical scalpel. Each testicle was expressed with the inner sac intact, and then it was removed afterwards.

Tying off and severing the cords, including the injection of local anesthetic into them, likely took another half hour for each side. Again, there was no blood. The cutter made sure there was no blood flowing before the cords were severed. In accordance with prior agreement, I was allowed to sever the second testicle, which took 2-3 seconds with surgical scissors after it had been successfully tied off with dissolvable sutures. Closing of each of the wounds - also with dissolvable sutures because they were so small - was about 5-10 minutes each.

All in all, there was in fact little trauma. While the total procedure was lengthy, there was little discomfort, and full healing was about the 3 weeks, the same length of time most other guys' genital mods take. The feeling of euphoria accompanying the loss of my testes meant that the time seemed to pass much sooner than it did by the clock. I was totally amazed when I was told afterward what time it was.

The question being how long does it take to perform a castration?

Well, in the Civil War a doctor could amputate a limb in 10 minutes. This is probably more information than you want or need to know, but if you know what you are doing, castration can go pretty fast if you are not using a lower abdominal incision. Of course, not using the lower abdominal incision increases complications because the tissues are harder to heal and also more difficult to suture correctly.

The following quote was take from this web site...

Surgical History (http://www.ehistory.com/uscw/features/m ... ations.cfm)

You might want to look at this stuff...

Enjoy!

A-1

Taking his bonesaw (hence Civil War slang for a doctor is a "Sawbones") he would saw through the bone until it was severed. He would then toss it into the growing pile of limbs. The operator would then tie off the arteries with either horsehair, silk, or cotton threads. The surgeon would scrape the end and edges of the bone smooth, so that they would not work back through the skin. The flap of skin left by the surgeon would be pulled across and sewed close, leaving a drainage hole. The stump would be covered perhaps with isinglass plaster, and bandaged, and the soldier set aside where he would wake up thirsty and in pain, the "Sawbones" already well onto his next case.

A good surgeon could amputate a limb in under 10 minutes. If the soldier was lucky, he would recover without one of the horrible so-called "Surgical Fevers", i.e. deadly pyemia or gangrene.