I know I may be playing with fire here but I'm desperate. I'm 20 years old and I'm a MtF transgender. I don't have the money to pay for hormonal treatment, and my family doesn't support me.

Since last year I've been using a (not too tight) rope around my scrotum to reduce blood flow and, hopefully, the testosterone production. I use this band the whole day, but I loose it when feel pain and see that the testicles are swollen. Sometimes I also tuck.

I'm worried that a chronic testicular ischemia could increase the risk of testicular cancer (probably because of hypoxia). I also read that cryptorchidism (undescended testicles = tucking?) is highly associated with cancer.

So my question is... how dangerous are these practices?

The cancer risk from undescended testicles is from having the testicles chronically overheated inside the abdomen. So, anything chronically over heating the testicles could be harmful and would decrease sperm production. Testosterone production does not seem to be as impacted by heat as sperm are.

Any reduction or impairing of the blood flow to your balls or any other part of your body can result in numerous medical problems such as blood clots that can kill portions of tissue by blocking off oxygen to those cells. Or clots breaking free and traveling through the blood stream to heart, brain, lung, and other vital organs that can cause serious damage, strokes, heart and lung damage, or even sudden death.

Taking chances with your blood flow to any organs can result in tissue death in unexpected ways and locations. This can be from numbness that masks lack of oxygen or chronic lack of oxygen over time, or an immediate miscalculation or error in tightness or the testis shifting position in ways that further cut off blood flow.

Its very risky and potentially dangerous in ways you cannot anticipate or control adequately to do it safely. Don t do it !

I saw something interesting on another site but must say in no way would I recommend doing this to yourself. But after reading so many posts here on injecting chemicals to kill your testicles and now banding, this technique seems a lot safer. Basically it involves locating the spermatic cords high in the scrotum then using a suture to tie each one tightly off. This of course would cut blood flow and within 12 to 24 hours permanently kill the testicles. The danger with this or banding is multi fold including a release of lactic acid back into the blood stream as well as a danger of developing clots. Like most here I would highly recommend just saving money to have your testicles removed by a medical professional.

I know that your testicles are the last thing you want to be reminded of on a weekly basis. However, pick a day of the week and do a testicular exam in the shower or right after the shower every week on that day. Testicular cancer is very often not painful and will just be a lump on the testicle.

Anyone who owns testicles should do this weekly exam the same way women do breast exams. Actually 470 men a year die of breast cancer in the United States and men should be checking for lumps as well.

I already stopped banding, but I still tuck 24/7. However, I banded my testicles every day for a year, and I'm now absolutely terrified of the possibility of increased cancer risk. I read a lot of stuff about the Warburg Hypothesis and the correlation between undescended testicles (tucking?) and testicular cancer. Should I be worried?

I don t think you are in any huge danger of getting heat related cancer in your balls from one year of tucking. I ve worn jockstraps daily for decades in various jobs and my dr has me wearing daily jockstraps to take the ball weight off my nut cords and veins. A tight jockstrap under clothes is likely as overheating as most tucking I m guessing.

Men live and work in temperatures higher than the human body and don t get cancer from it.

I d be more worried about what that much banding is doing to your balls. But men on here have pointed out to me that they do all kinds of cock and ball tortures and long histories of banding for fun and still have healthy balls.

Every man s balls are different. Some can take abuse and still work perfect. Another man s balls might get killed by doing exactly the same things. There is no way to know until something happens to your balls. Its a risk you decide to take or not take.

Some men are into lifting weights by their balls only and have contests to see who can lift the most weight with ropes or chains tied to only their balls. No one knows when any set of balls will exceed their lifting ability until something breaks. The weights some men can lift with their balls only would rip other men s balls right out of their sacks and castrate their balls off their nut cords. No one knows what each ball can take until its too much and obviously damaged. Too late since the ball is in trouble by then.