First Penis Transplant Recipient Gets Girlfriend Pregnant

The recipient of the world’s first transplanted penis has impregnated his girlfriend as reported by the Washington Post reported yesterday. Six months after having the surgery, the patient will be a father. The 21-year-old man had lost his penis at age 18 from a botched circumcision he had undergone. As a result, he had the transplant surgery six months ago.

The surgery was performed six months ago by Prof. Andre van der Merwe, a urologist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, the Inquisitr reported at the time. The surgery took nine hours to complete. After a full recovery, the man was able to be sexually active again.

Dr. van der Merwe spoke about the importance of the procedure, saying, “For a young man of 18 or 19 years the loss of his penis can be deeply traumatic. He doesn’t necessarily have the psychological capability to process this. There are even reports of suicide among these young men. There is a greater need in South Africa for this type of procedure than elsewhere in the world, as many young men lose their penises every year due to complications from traditional circumcision.”

The penis transplant patient in South Africa will soon be a father, BBC News reported, and the pregnancy of his girlfriend shows the transplanted organ functions normally. The doctors who performed the transplant surgery were pleased with the news that he and his girlfriend will have a child.

“This is what we intended, that he should be able to stand up and be able to urinate and have intercourse, so it is a milestone for him,” Dr Van der Merwe told the BBC.

As many as 250 men per year in South Africa lose their penis as a result of a botched circumcision that they undergo at age 18. Penis transplant is certainly a desirable option for those patients to restore the functionality that they lost.

A previous penis transplant in China was not successful because the patient’s body rejected the transplanted organ. Medical scientists are exploring the possibility of growing penis tissue in the laboratory from a patient’s own cell to help prevent rejection of the transplanted organ.

For men who have suffered botched circumcisions, acts of violence or medical conditions that result in the loss of their penis, the transplant procedure gives hope of restoring their normal functionality. The doctors who performed the transplant in South Africa expects to perform several more transplants on patients who are waiting to have the procedure. In the future, medical science may allow the growing of many body parts for transplant procedures.

[Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Childrens Hospital Los Angeles via Getty Images]