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."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
-
Prince charming: Harry’s tea with King sparks royal reconciliation rumoursTalking Point Are the royals (and the UK public) ready to welcome the Duke of Sussex back in?
-
Has Israel’s Qatar strike scuppered a ceasefire?Today’s Big Question Netanyahu ‘gambles’ on ‘overwhelming strength’ rather than diplomacy in attack on Hamas negotiation team in Doha
-
Deaf Republic: ‘an experimental epic of war and resistance’The Week Recommends Ukrainian-American writer Ilya Kaminsky’s poetry collection is brought to the stage in this ‘enthralling’ production
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study findsSpeed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves babyspeed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
