“To get things done right, do it yourself” is an old proverb that expresses the belief that relying on oneself is the only way to ensure tasks are completed as expected. While surgery usually requires a team of specialists to ensure its success, some extraordinary individuals have been forced to take matters into their own hands under extreme circumstances. Throughout modern history, there have been several instances of people performing self-surgery, each demonstrating incredible courage and resourcefulness. Here are 14 remarkable individuals who performed surgery on themselves.
1. Leonid Rogozov: The Man Who Removed His Own Appendix
In April 1961, Leonid Rogozov, a 27-year-old Soviet surgeon, was part of an expedition team in Antarctica. During the journey, he developed appendicitis. With no other doctors in the team and weather conditions making evacuation impossible, Rogozov realized that he had no choice but to perform the surgery himself. In pain, he described the sensation as “a storm raging in his soul” and “like a hundred wolves howling.” After obtaining permission via radio from Moscow and receiving assistance from three colleagues, Rogozov performed the surgery on himself with a local anesthetic and using only a mirror to guide him. He successfully removed his appendix, and two weeks later, he was back at work. As a result of this event, some countries, including Australia, now require doctors going to Antarctica to undergo an appendectomy before departure.
2. Robert Kerr McLaren: Another Self-Surgeon of the Appendix
Rogozov wasn’t the only one to remove his appendix on his own. In the 1940s, Australian veterinarian Robert Kerr McLaren removed his own appendix in the jungles of the Philippines without anesthesia. Dr. Ivan Kane is another example of a person who performed self-appendectomy. 
3. Gouverneur Morris: The Founding Father Who Inserted Whale Bone Into His Body
Gouverneur Morris, a key writer of the U.S. Constitution and a prominent founding father, is also known for a rather unusual and unfortunate personal act. In 1816, after suffering from gout and possible urinary tract infection, he inserted a whale bone into his body in an attempt to clear a blockage. Sadly, this led to an infection, and Morris passed away later that year.
4. Aron Ralston: The Man Who Amputated His Own Arm
In 2003, 27-year-old hiker Aron Ralston found himself trapped by a boulder in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. With no phone signal and limited supplies, he used his only free hand and a Swiss Army knife to cut off his own arm. He first had to break his arm’s bones before cutting through it. Afterward, he used climbing gear to stop the bleeding and climbed out of a 65-foot canyon. His incredible survival story became the subject of the 2010 film “127 Hours.”
5. Charles-Auguste Clever de Maldeni: The Man Who Removed His Own Bladder Stones
Bladder stone removal was once a torturous procedure with high mortality rates. To avoid undergoing this painful surgery again, surgeon Charles-Auguste Clever de Maldeni decided to perform the operation on himself. He successfully removed a stone from his bladder using a mirror, though the problem would recur years later, and he had to opt for a less invasive treatment.
6. Curtis Kaser: The Man Who Severed His Own Leg
In 2019, 63-year-old man Curtis Kaser, working on a farm in Nebraska, had his leg caught in a grain auger. Acting quickly, he used a Swiss Army knife to amputate his own leg. Afterward, he crawled hundreds of feet to grab a phone. Medical professionals later performed a second surgery to remove the remaining part of his leg.
7. Inés Ramírez Pérez: The Woman Who Performed Her Own Cesarean Section
In 2000, 40-year-old Inés Ramírez Pérez gave birth alone in a remote area of southern Mexico. After hours of painful labor and having lost a previous child, she drank some alcohol and used a 6-inch knife to perform her own cesarean section. Miraculously, both mother and child survived the ordeal.
8. Amanda Feilding: The Woman Who Drilled Into Her Own Skull
In 1970, British woman Amanda Feilding performed a self-craniotomy, drilling a hole into her own skull as part of her exploration of altered states of consciousness. She believed it would increase blood flow to her brain, though there was no scientific evidence for this. Later, Feilding repeated the procedure with the help of others.
9. Peter Freuchen: The Man Who Removed His Own Foot
Danish explorer Peter Freuchen is known for his resilience. After suffering from frostbite in the 1920s, Freuchen used a hammer and pliers to amputate his own infected foot. Despite losing part of his leg, he remained active in Denmark’s resistance against the Nazis and helped Jewish refugees escape Nazi Germany.
10. Mohar Ford: The Surgeon Who Performed Surgery on His Own Torn Ligament
In 2021, Ohio-based surgeon Mohar Ford, motivated by curiosity, performed surgery on his own torn ligament. After receiving local anesthesia, he felt as if his thumb belonged to someone else and proceeded to perform the repair surgery himself.
11. Viktor Yazikov: The Sailor Who Burst His Own Abscess
In 1998, during a solo sailing competition, Viktor Yazikov developed a severe abscess in his elbow. Unable to get immediate medical help, he followed instructions from his doctor via email and performed the incision to drain the abscess himself. The resulting bleeding was severe, but Yazikov was able to stop it with a makeshift tourniquet and continue the race.
12. Ivan O’Neill Kane: The Surgeon Who Performed His Own Appendectomy
In 1919, Pennsylvania-based surgeon Ivan O’Neill Kane performed an appendectomy on himself, driven by a desire to understand the effects of local anesthesia, which he had doubts about. This surgery was part of his research and was prompted by his own chronic appendicitis.
13. M. Alexander Fezaku: The Surgeon Who Removed His Own Inguinal Hernia
In 1909, Romanian surgeon M. Alexander Fezaku performed a hernia operation on himself. Using a mirror, he performed the surgery to remove an inguinal hernia and was back to work within two weeks.
14. Werner Theodore Otto Forssmann: The Surgeon Who Performed His Own Heart Surgery
In 1929, German physician Werner Theodore Otto Forssmann inserted a catheter into his own heart as part of a medical experiment. Though initially rejected by his superiors, Forssmann went on to perform the procedure with the help of a nurse. His groundbreaking work in catheterization led to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1956.
