Lucky man's new penis has 'excellent girth and length'

He's the luckiest guy in the country. The South African man who received the world's first successful penis transplant is able to use his new organ like any normal 21-year-old. And his lover stayed with him through thick and thin.

"He is involved with a female partner who stuck with him through all of this. That gave him support," said urologist Professor André van der Merwe, the leader of a team of Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital surgeons who performed the nine-hour transplant.

"We gave this patient a very good-sized penis, [and] at erection he certainly has an excellent girth and length," said Van der Merwe.

A team of Cape Town surgeons performed the procedure on the man - whose identity is being kept secret by the doctors - on December 11 last year.

It was only the second time that the surgery had been attempted, after a failed transplant in China in 2006.

Van der Merwe, the head of urology at Stellenbosch University, said he and his team were surprised that the patient's sexual function returned so early. "He and his partner are certainly sexually active. They confirmed that," he said.

"He has excellent sexual function at the moment because of the good blood supply connected to his penis."

The 21-year-old man required an amputation of his penis three years ago, after life-threatening complications arising from a traditional circumcision. His penis had developed gangrene.

This left him with a stump of 1.5cm, which meant he was unable to urinate standing up or have sex.

Van der Merwe believed that patients who had suffered such a loss would be grateful for the opportunity to have a penis restoration: "These patients don't have anything, are at a big loss, and are keen to have a penis back."

Donor Penis

According to Van der Merwe, the patient was black, and the donor penis came from a man of a different race. But he would not give more information. The Sunday Times saw images of the transplanted penis, which appeared much lighter in pigmentation to that of the patient.

Ethical considerations had to be taken into account before the operation. "A transplant like this can be rife with ethical issues," said Dr Nicola Barsdorf, the head of health-research ethics at Stellenbosch. "Navigating what I think could have been quite a tricky ethical landscape, this health-research team has done really well. They sought advice throughout ... from ethicists."

Coming to terms with the loss and accepting the new appendage was instrumental to the success of the transplant, said Van der Merwe.

The Chinese patient who had received the first penis transplant nine years earlier had it removed two weeks later because of psychological problems suffered by both the patient and his wife, who was not accepting of her husband's new penis.

For this reason, the South African man had a much longer waiting period, during which he received regular counselling, and his partner was involved throughout the process. "The patient accepted the penis as his own, virtually from the first day he saw it," said Van der Merwe.

Nine other recipients are now on a waiting list to receive penis transplants, in what is still considered an experimental phase for the procedure.

For patients who were concerned about a colour discrepancy with a donor penis, skin grafts and tattoo techniques were an option.

"Should the patient become unhappy with a small colour difference, we'll take skin from the inside of his leg and remove the skin from the penis and replace it with that ... You can [also] tattoo the glans of the penis very effectively and make it look very good."

Van der Merwe said the transplant recipient was in good health, and saw no reason that he couldn't have children.

"He has an excellent physique ... and hasn't lost any weight. His muscles are strong and he is happy ... He reports normal ejaculation ... A young fertile male like him can still conceive, I don't expect [problems]."

collinsf@timesmedia.co.za