World’s first successful penis transplant patient resumes sexual
relationship with girlfriend – The 21-year-old man who undergone the
world’s first successful penis transplant was capable of resume sexual
relationship with his girlfriend.
Prof. Frank Graewe, who
took part in the nine-hour surgery on the South African man,
in a report published yesterday in DailyMailOnline, said: “He gets good quality
erections, ejaculates and has frequent sex with his partner.’” He said doctors
are now also appealing for donors to enable more men to have the operation.
The operation was carried
out by surgeons from Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital in Cape
Town, South Africa, using a donated penis.
The man, who has not been
named, lost all but a 1cm stump of his penis three years ago following a
botched circumcision. He received the donated organ harvested from a man who
was declared brain dead.
Graewe, who said the
recipient had accepted the new organ as ‘his own’, noted that the skin tone of
the donor penis is similar to that of the patient.
“It will never be 100 per
cent similar, because even when the individuals have the same skin colour,
complexions differ,” the doctor added.
Ten years ago, a man in China received
a transplant, but asked surgeons to remove the donated penis two weeks after
the operation.
Professor André van der
Merwe, who led the operation on December 11 last year, had spent years
experimenting on cadavers to see which nerves, blood vessels and other elements
had to be joined to guarantee full functioning.
As many as 250 men are
estimated to lose their penises each year in a secret and brutal initiation
ceremony conducted by the Xhosa tribe in South Africa.
During the month of June,
which marks the start of a new harvest, thousands of boys are sent naked into
remote areas to survive with little more than a blanket and meagre rations.
The ritual is known as
ukwaluka and has been practiced for generations.
The ultimate test of the
rite of passage is the process of ukwaluka – the cutting of the penis foreskin
that is done by an incibi – a traditional surgeon – which symbolises the
beginning of manhood.
However, infections and
other complications are coming causing the death of scores of teenagers.
Each year, there are
repeated calls for the ritual to be stopped.
Graewe said: “It’s a
massive breakthrough. We’ve proved that it can be done – we can give someone an
organ that is just as good as the one that he had.”
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