Teenage boy with birth defect discovers he was mistakenly raised as a girl

Is it a boy or a girl?

Some 19 years ago, Kristel Lumabao's parents thought they had a bouncing baby girl. After all, the birth certificate said so.

But puberty revealed the truth. Now a 19-year-old criminology student in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Kristel, instead of getting monthly menstrual periods, grew a mustache and developed a deeper voice.

It turned out that Kristel was really male and was mistaken for a female because of a birth defect known as hypospadias.

According to the Mayo Clinic website, hypospadias is a “condition in which the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the penis, instead of at the tip. The urethra is the tube through which urine drains from your bladder and exits your body.”

Hypospadias occurs in up to four in 1,000 newborn boys, according to the National Institutes of Health of the United States' Department of Health and Human Services.

Although the cause of the rare condition is unknown, the condition can be passed down through families.

Mistaken gender identity

"Noong ipinanganak ko, talagang ang organ niya ay babae,” Kristel's mother Erlinda explained in a report on GMA 7's "24 Oras". “Pero habang siya'y lumalaki nag-iba na kasi... Walang ovary at saka uterus."



Believing their child was female, Erlinda and her husband Joel raised Kristel as a girl. Kristel wore dresses and even flower crowns.

But in high school, Kristel noticed that his body started to change. It started to look masculine.

"Noong lumaki na ako, nakita ko na na yung shape ko, shape ng aking katawan ay parang katawan na talaga ng lalaki. Sinuggest po ng isang doktor na karyotyping. Ang naging interpretation po sa resulta ay normal male," Kristel elaborated.

Karyotyping is a genetic test to determine the state of a person's chromosomes.

Acceptance and joy

Moving on from their mistake, Kristel's family has accepted his real sex.

Now, Kristel wants to change his name to "Ice Krystler."

"Nagpapasalamat ako na kahit ganito ang aking sitwasyon masaya po ako," he said.

But it was his father who was the happiest. Finally, he had a son.

"Nagpapasalamat ako sa Poong Maykapal dahil nagkaroon ako ng lalaking anak. 'Di ko alam kung gaano ako kasaya," said Joel. — Trisha Macas/DVM/JDS/ELR, GMA News