# Giving Your Xrays to a Friend? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 12, 2020, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381 "2020-11-12T02:09:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ptolomy57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ptolomy57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ptolomy57)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/1 "2020-11-12T02:09:10Z")
Do you think there is any harm in giving away old X-rays to a friend? This friend has some quirky interests, and she just got a “light box” as a birthday gift. Yes, a box for viewing x-rays. (She was born on Halloween, so she’s always been a bit macabre.) As long as there is no personal info imprinted on the film, and these are not dental records, I can’t think of any security risk why we may regret doing this. Still, I wanted to ask the SDopers about their opinions. Your thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/2 "2020-11-12T02:11:50Z")
What its an x-ray of comes to mind. Is it a light bulb up the butt? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/3 "2020-11-12T02:14:45Z")
If there’s nothing found in your X-rays that you wouldn’t tell your friend about then what do you care? More specifically, why would you care if they had your dental X-rays? Are you planning to fake your own death or something? If that’s then it just smash up that corpse’s jaw with a sledge hammer. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/4 "2020-11-12T05:05:30Z")
Do your x-rays reveal your replicant ID? That could be problematic. I think the only danger is that in her demented old age, they may get mixed up with her x-rays – but from what I’ve heard, in the USA they always repeat all tests at every stage. On the other hand, if you ever need your old x-rays, at least you’ll know where to find them. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/5 "2020-11-12T05:08:15Z")
I have never brought my old x-rays home, I didn’t know that was allowed. If I had them, I certainly would allow anyone who wanted to see them access. Of course, if I did have them from back in the day when films were printed, I probably would have already cut them up for a craft thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/6 "2020-11-12T09:17:57Z")
I can’t think of any security risks, but it’s a weird idea. Some people like weird ideas, some don’t. I’m always a little uneasy when someone wants to show me an ultrasound of their unborn child - it’s like… I’m not really sure I want to look inside you/your wife, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/7 "2020-11-12T09:52:05Z")
I had to have cranial MRIs done when I was working at a high school. Nothing too terrible. I had migraines, and had switched doctors, because my old one retired. The new one decided than before she rubber-stamped my migraine prescription (I’d been taking for years), she wanted a few tests. She was concerned not just because of the headaches, but because I had young adult-onset progressive myopia, which is sort of unusual in the general population, but very common in my family-- my brother, and all but one cousin on my maternal side, as well as both my mother’s siblings, have it. Still, if I turned out to have a benign, slow-growing tumor for years, and no one ever sent me for tests, she’d look pretty bad. Better safe than sorry, and I had really good insurance. Anyway, after all was said and done, I had some really neat images of a human brain in my possession, that were pretty complete, because they look nearly everywhere. Didn’t find anything except a tiny little weirdly-shaped vessel that might or might not contribute to the migraines, and in the words of the doctor “It would be more unusual to find absolutely _nothing_ unusual, than to find a few, tiny irregularities.” Once the tests were all done, and all the diagnosing was over, the images were turned over to me. I gave some of them to the biology teacher whose class I’d worked in the year before, because they illustrated brain structures that were mostly drawings in the textbook. She was thrilled to have them, once I explained that I was perfectly fine, and my doctor was just playing it safe. This was a long time ago. She may be retired by now, or, she may still be showing them to students, or they may have gotten worn, and fingerprint-damaged years ago, and tossed. I have no idea. I don’t know that the neighbor’s interest is so weird. Collecting X-ray images isn’t that much odder than collecting Daguerreotypes, considering that most collectors of the later are essentially collecting images of random strangers. I know people with even more unusual hobbies or collections. There are people who collect vintage and obsolete medical instruments. There are people who collect ads, tchotchkes, and other things that employ racist imagery (not necessarily because the person is racist, but more in a “NEVER FORGET” sense). My brother spent a lot of money having a custom-built cabinet to display all his Star Wars toys he still has from childhood. If we’re voting, I say go ahead and let the neighbor have the images. But ultimately, it’s up to you. If it makes you squicky at all, don’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/8 "2020-11-12T09:53:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m always a little uneasy when someone wants to show me an ultrasound of their unborn child Our kid looked like an alien in the ultrasound pic we had. We didn’t show it to anyone. We weren’t so crazy about looking at it ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/9 "2020-11-12T14:52:27Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m always a little uneasy when someone wants to show me an ultrasound of their unborn child - it’s like… I’m not really sure I want to look inside you/your wife, thanks. Years ago a friend was passing out cigars, all happy about the birth of his child. He also shared pictures of the blessed event until his wife found out. Pictures that can’t be unseen. I’m still a bit embarrassed around the wife, even though the kid is in college. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/10 "2020-11-12T14:59:07Z")
I don’t have any of those, but I do have a MRI of my brain and orbital sockets that were taken a few years back. The place put them on a DVD for me, and I downloaded the software to view them. Pretty wild. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/11 "2020-11-12T16:10:35Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Years ago a friend was passing out cigars, all happy about the birth of his child. He also shared pictures of the blessed event until his wife found out. Pictures that can’t be unseen. I’m always just a _tiny bit_ tempted to say “Oh, cool! I’ve never seen **that** far inside her before” ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/12 "2020-11-12T17:38:54Z")
Why not. Heck, the Soviets pressed records on old x-rays when they couldn’t get vinyl: > **[Bone music: the Soviet bootleg records pressed on x-rays](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/29/bone-music-soviet-bootleg-records-pressed-on-xrays)** > > In 50s Soviet Union, western records such as Rock Around the Clock and Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy were banned. But intrepid music lovers found a way to defy the authorities by making bootleg pressings on discarded x-rays. Pete Paphides reports ---
**Author:** ![Ptolomy57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ptolomy57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ptolomy57)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-xrays-to-a-friend/925381/13 "2020-11-12T17:46:07Z")
OK, thanks for all the replies!