Human penis transplants could be reality in just five years
Doctors have worked on this since 1999, to create a penis using a patient's own cells
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-11-15 16:05 GMT
London: Scientists have revealed that after successful surgeries in rabbits, penis transplant in humans can be just five years away.
Dr Anthony Atala, who had been working on the problem since 1999, said that he hopes his technique will solve both this and psychological issues because his penises would be engineered using a patient's own cells, the Mirror reported.
He stated that the phallus is much longer than you think and goes all the way behind the pelvis, so no matter the extent of the damage, there is a high probability that there are salvageable cells.
Though Dr Atala has already engineered half a dozen human penises his first target is partial replacement.
At present the only treatment option for these men is to have a penis constructed with skin and muscle from the thigh or forearm. Sexual function can be restored with a prosthesis placed inside, while prosthetics options leave the patient either with a "bendy" permanently semi-rigid penis which is hard to hide, or with inflatable rods powered by a saline pump in the scrotum.
Both technologies have been around since the 1970s and the aesthetics leave a lot to be desired and penetration is not smooth.