‘I feel whole again’
An unprecedented first has taken place in the U.S, after doctors performed the most complex and extensive penis transplant ever attempted.
In a 14-hour operation performed last month at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, a former U.S soldier received an entire penis, a scrotum (without testicles), and partial abdominal wall from a deceased donor.
The ground-breaking operation took a team of nine plastic surgeons and two urology surgeons to work to attach the urethra, erectile tissue, arteries, veins, nerves and skin of the penis and abdominal wall to its new owner.
The recipient, a young army veteran who wishes to remain anonymous, had his genitals blown off after stepping on a hidden landmine while on tour in the Middle East.
“We are hopeful that this transplant will help restore near-normal urinary and sexual functions for this young man,” said Andrew Lee, professor and director of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Speaking to the New York Times after the operation, the surgery recipient said he now feels whole again.
“That injury, I felt like it banished me from a relationship.”
“Like, that’s it, you’re done, you’re by yourself for the rest of your life. I struggled with even viewing myself as a man for a long time.”
The former serviceman also lost both legs below his knees but particularly struggled with the loss of his genitals.
Two other successful penis transplants have previously successfully been completed— However both involved only the organ itself, not the scrotum or the surrounding abdominal area.
