Woman Got Pregnant By Man Who Had The World’s first Penis Transplant
Woman Got Pregnant By Man Who Had The World’s first Penis Transplant
A man in South Africa who had to have his penis removed after complications arose following a religious circumcision ceremony can now breathe easy. Doctors in South Africa were able to successfully carry out a complex penis transplant successfully which reestablished the man’s urinary and reproductive functions.
This type of medical procedure had been attempted before with little success. In fact, a similar procedure was attempted on a Chinese man who was so distraught physically and psychologically that he quickly asked the doctors to remove the body part.
Girlfriend is now pregnant
In a twist of events, the man who chose to remain anonymous out of respect for his and his family’s privacy has announced that his girlfriend is four months pregnant. Dr. Andre Van Der Merwe, from Stellenbosch University and head of the Division of Urology, spoke of the difficulty of the transplant which took approximately nine hours to complete. The man is now sexually active and his urinary and reproductive functions are normal as can be expected. The doctors used a highly sophisticated type of microscopic surgery that connected small blood vessels and nerves.
Doctors emphasized that almost as important as the surgery itself was the psychological well-being of the patient. It was instrumental for him to feel that the new penis was part of himself and his body. Great time and effort were spent finding the person with the adequate psychological profile. Surprisingly, the man has fared well and is happy with his new organ.
There are of course, still drawbacks and more research needs to go into this area to make recovery more efficient. Some of the challenges the patient will have to deal with is a lifetime of immunosuppresant drugs. In addition, there is still a chance that the body may reject the organ at some point.
The need for more research
South Africa is a place that this type of research has been developed the most since a large number of young male undergo circumcision as part of cultural rites. Often times these religious ceremonies are carried out with minimal sanitary standards which can cause severe medical problems and in some cases death.
There are currently nine more operations scheduled pending research funding. It is estimated that the more operations that are conducted the better the techniques that will develop so that more men are able to live happier and healthier lives.
