The information provided on this site is often written from a medical perspective and is provided as a service to help understand different intersex variations.  There are certain medical problems associated with some variations.  For medical help, please consult a qualified medical practitioner. OII does not accept intersex as a medical issue per se.  However, many intersex variations have condition specific diagnoses and many people prefer to use the diagnosis or medical description of their variation, instead of the term “intersex”.

Please note: OII is not of the opinion that people who are born with intersex variations do not have health needs. Quite the contrary. What we are saying is that being intersex, or of intermediate sex, is itself not a disorder which requires medical treatment. This is one of the many reasons we oppose the term “Disorders of Sex Development” because it comprises all the different variations which could result in being intersex and makes our SEX (intersex) itself the disorder.

It is obvious that people born of intersex sex may have health problems.  That is what OII wants to be treated, our actual health problems, not gender or other cosmetic changes to make us meet norms for male and female. We provide the following information in hopes that individuals who are intersex will seek medical attention for the illnesses which might be associated with their particular variation. In discussing health issues with intersexed people from all over the world, we in OII have found that real health issues are often overlooked in intersex people because the emphasis is on the “sex disorder” aspect and since all the different variations have very different causes, doctors are often not aware of the particular health needs associated with a particular variation and the health of the individual is compromised.