A 21-year-old man who had lost his penis due to a botched circumcision and his girlfriend are expecting a child thanks to a groundbreaking transplant. The recipient was the first to have a successful penile transplant surgery.
Stellenbosch University urologist Andre van der Merwe confirmed the surgery, performed six months ago, was a success and "the organ is functioning," according to South Africa's News24. The micro surgery took nine hours and was performed a the Tygerberg Hospital in December last year.
The man had his penis amputated three years ago after a traditional circumcision gone wrong, according to the Washington Post. His surgery is actually the second attempt, but the first long-term success.
"There is a greater need in South Africa for this type of procedure than elsewhere in the world, as many young men lose their penises every year due to complications from traditional circumcision," Van der Merwe told Bloomberg.
"It helps a community of men," Van der Merwe said. "These men have lost their penises in traditional circumcision. Nobody talks about them, they're ostracized, they're stigmatized and this is good news for them."
If doctors can't get the organ to function properly - inability to void or perform sexually - some men are stuck with a foreign lump of skin attached to them. Sometimes, the issue is psychological. One man in China had a successful penile transplant only to ask doctors to remove the donor penis 10 days later, according to The Guardian. "Because of a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife, the transplanted penis regretfully had to be cut off," said Dr. Weilie Hu, a surgeon at Guangzhou General Hospital.
The Cape Town transplant patient is still under observation and future operations are planned for mid-August for any improvements that might be needed.
