Wounded Army Veteran to Receive America’s First Penis Transplant
This really is the best way to honor our troops.
Here at Maxim, we take our commitment to your junk very seriously. Which is why we couldn’t be more pleased to announce that surgeons at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore will perform the first-ever penis transplant on American soil. According toToday, the recipient—who is unnamed is a young soldier — sustained genitourinary injuries will on active duty in Afghanistan.
The procedure, which is slated to take place in the next year, will take the penis of a deceased donor and surgically attach it to the recipient’s groin. If all goes well, he should be able to feel sensation, have urinary function, and yes, even have sex a few months after that.
This surgery has been attempted twice before outside the U.S., once in China, where the man rejected the member because of a psychological reaction, and once in South Africa. Although the surgery is still experimental, perhaps we have reason to be hopeful, considering the dude from South Africa is reportedly going to be a dad.
Johns Hopkins has been given the green light to perform 60 of these operations, which is even better news when you consider 1,367 men in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered genital wounds in service from 2001 to 2013, according to the Department of Defense Trauma Registry.
Dr Richard J. Redett, director of pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins told Today, “To be missing the penis and parts of the scrotum is devastating. That part of the body is so strongly associated with your sense of self and identity as a male. These guys have given everything they have.”
Fingers crossed for successful surgery and speedy recovery.
Photos by Getty Images
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