Doctors have officially given a 21-year-old man in South Africa the world's first successful penile transplant.
Surgeons from Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital spent nine hours completing the operation in December. The patient has apparently regained full penis function, which is a much faster recovery time than the doctors expected — they didn't think the organ would be fully functional until two years after the operation.
"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," Frank Graewe, head of Stellenbosch University's Division of Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, said in a statement. “It was a privilege to be part of this first successful penis transplant in the world."
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In the statement, the scientists added that penis transplants are particularly needed in South Africa, since many circumcisions there lead to complications that may result in penis amputation. One study the doctors cited reported as many as 250 penis amputations a year.
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