A YOUNG soldier whose genitals were blown off by a bomb has had the world’s first total penis transplant.
The 14-hour surgery saw the unnamed war hero receive a penis, scrotum and portion of abdominal wall from a dead donor.
His op involved a transplanted piece of tissue measuring 10ins by 11ins in total and weighing 5lbs.
The soldier had lost both legs above the knee in the bomb blast — but it was the genital damage which was the most devastating for him.
The US veteran said: “The injury banished me from a relationship. Like, that’s it, you’re by yourself for the rest of your life. I struggled with even viewing myself as a man.”
He got prosthetic legs, earned a college degree and began to live on his own but dating was still out of the question.
The solider even considered suicide until medics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, told him about a transplant.
The donor’s family agreed and now, four weeks after the £285,000 surgery paid for by the hospital, he said: “I feel whole again and I’ll maybe one day get into a relationship again.
“When I first woke up, I felt finally more normal… [with] a level of confidence as well.
“Confidence… like finally I’m OK now.”
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Two other penis transplants have been performed but involved only the organ, not the scrotum or surrounding flesh.
A team of nine plastic surgeons and two urological surgeons performed the world-first op, which also involved transplanting blood vessels, nerves and tendons.
Dr Wei-Ping Lee, director of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins, said: “We are hopeful that this transplant will help restore near-normal urinary and sexual functions for this young man.”
But the soldier will never be able to have kids.
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