More than 1,300 U.S. servicemen suffered an injury to their genitals while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan from 2001 to 2003. Some lost all or part of their penises or testicles. Now surgeons at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are planning a penis transplant procedure that may help some of these men and waiting for a suitable donor.
Injury to or loss of the genitals is rarely discussed and is often kept hidden because of shame or embarrassment. "I think one would agree it is as devastating as anything that our wounded warriors suffer, for a young man to come home in his early 20s with the pelvic area completely destroyed," Dr. W. P. Andrew Lee, the chairman of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins, said in an interview in The New York Times.
An attempt at a penis transplant was made in China, but the patient had a psychological problem with the transplant and the transplant itself did not do well. A successful penis transplant was performed in 2014 in South Africa. The South African man has become a father.
Whether a penis transplant will ever become a standard treatment for the loss of a penis will depend on the results seen at Johns Hopkins. There are risks of infection and serious blood loss, and an increased risk of cancer due to drugs that suppress the immune system which much to be taken for life in order to prevent rejection.
To connect the new penis, microsurgery will be used to connect nerves, blood vessels, and the urethra. If successful, the transplant will restore urinary function, sensation, and eventually, the ability to have sex.
For many soldiers, losing all or part of their genitals is far more troubling than any other injury that can happen to them. Such loss can erode a man's sense of his own masculinity and identity.
The donor will have to be a relatively young man whose family will be asked specifically for permission to use the penis for transplantation.
