World's first successful penis transplant carried out in South Africa

[IDemo]

Source: The Telegraph

South African scientists have announced the world's first successful penis transplant, helping a 21-year-old who suffered an amputation following a botched traditional circumcision three years ago.

Professor Andre van der Merwe, head of Stellenbosch University's Division of Urology, announced details of the "ground-breaking" operation at Tygerberg Hospital in Bellville, Cape Town.

The nine-hour operation, which involved the attachment of a penis taken from a donor who had died, was carried out in December. The results were announced on Friday after doctors confirmed that the recipient of the donor organ has made a full recovery and is sexually active.

Mr van der Merwe said the recipient, whose identity has not been revealed, had to have his penis amputated three years ago after developing complications from a traditional circumcision.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/11470868/Worlds-first-successful-penis-transplant-carried-out-in-South-Africa.html

[pnwmom]

1. More on the botched circumcision of the then 18 year old.

The practice is seen as a rite of passage for young South African boys entering manhood including Nelson Mandela. He described the traditional stay in the bush that accompanies the operation in his book Long Walk to Freedom.

However, experts believe that up to 250 initiates lose their penises to amputation each year, and many more suffer horrific disfigurements because of unskilled or unscrupulous practitioners, unsterilised instruments and infection.

[father founding]

4. Is this still an issue ?

There is no reason for a circumcision.

[pnwmom]

5. There is no logical reason for religious-cultural practices in general. n/t

[BlueJazz]

6. That's horrible and barbaric. Can't the SA Government do something to help?

[pnwmom]

7. What is it doing to stop female genital mutilation, which deliberately

cuts out female sexual organs -- not just when the operation is "botched"?

[BlueJazz]

10. I thought about that. Frankly, I also thought that a lot of the/that practice was being..

...discontinued do to pressure from Women's groups.
Having said that...even one mutilation is one too many.

[pnwmom]

12. The S.A. government denies that it's practiced in S.A., despite the evidence.

And it is still common in many other parts of Africa.

http://africlaw.com/2012/06/07/female-genital-mutilation-in-south-africa/

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is one of the cultural practises embedded amongst the Venda community of north-east of South Africa. Eight weeks or less after childbirth, Venda women undergo a traditional ceremony called muthuso. Muthuso is a process of cutting the vaginal flesh of the mother by a traditional healer. The flesh is mixed with black powder and oil and applied on the child’s head to prevent goni. Goni has been described as a swelling on the back of a child’s head. The Venda people believe that goni can only be cured using the vaginal flesh of the child’s mother. Women who experienced FGM stated that they bleed excessively after the ceremony. Moreover, the women stated that there is no postnatal care in Venda. Consequently, the women use traditional medicine and sometimes this leads to death because of substandard treatment.


Vendas also practises FGM as initiation for girls into womanhood. The girls reside in a ‘nonyana’ hut for 24 hours until an appointed day when an old woman performs the clitoris cutting by the river banks. The girls are branded with a mark on their thighs as evidence of having attended initiation.

Migrants in South Africa including Sudanese and other African communities continue practising FGM. The families invite women into their homes who clandestinely circumcise often despite pleas from the girls. Herbs are applied to the cut places to quicken the healing. The girls are often traumatised following the practise.

SNIP

[BlueJazz]

14. "Venda people believe that goni can only be cured using the vaginal flesh of the child’s mother".

Christ! I'm gonna' check and see if one of the groups I donate to has this practice on their agenda.

Sometimes it's rough being educated in the sense that "I also wish I didn't know this"

I DO want to know this though...
I know a few people that have more money than I have. I will put the proverbial bug in their ear.

[pnwmom]

15. The worst country might be Somalia where, as of 2012, 98% of girls

were still subject to FMG. And the most common type of FMG was also the most hideous: infibulation.

Even in the US, medical personnel are sometimes shocked to find these girls in their practices. Parents have taken them back to Somalia "on vacation" to have the mutilation performed.

https://samatatafoundationfgm.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/somalia-with-98-fgm-rate-one-of-worst-nations-in-the-world-for-women/

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is still practiced in 28 African countries. Nowhere in the world is FGM a larger problem, however, than in the East African nation of Somalia, where 98 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 undergo FGM [1]. In Somalia, FGM is “a deeply entrenched social convention that is also a prerequisite for marriage” [2].

The most common forms of FGM in the world, as defined by the World Health Organization, are Type 1 (excision of the prepuce, sometimes involving removal of part or all of the clitoris) and Type II (excision of the clitoris with partial or total removal of the labia minora) [3]. The majority of circumcised women in Somalia, however, have been subjected to Type III, infibulation, the most severe form of FGM [4]. Type III is “excision of part or all of the external genitalia and stitching/narrowing of the vaginal opening (infibulation).” It is also referred to as pharaonic circumcision. Outside of Somalia, infibulation is also common in northern Sudan and Djibouti [3]. Once the woman is married, she often needs to be “deinfibulated” in order to have sexual intercourse. Sometimes, this means the husband using a corrosive chemical or razor on the wife’s vagina [5].

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/sudan/clitoridectomy-and-infibulation

In Pharaonic circumcisions, as performed by traditional midwives, the entire clitoris is removed from the base, the labia minora are grasped with the hand and cut off, the inside edges of the labia majora are excised, and then the two sides of the wound are brought together and held together by various substances (egg and cigarette papers in the Eastern Sudan; thorns used as skewers in the Northern Sudan) until they close and heal, forming a smooth area of epidermis over the outside with a midline scar. The girl's legs are bound together tightly at the ankles, knees, and thighs to prevent her from moving, so that the healing edges of the wound will not be disturbed; the aim is to make the opening into the vagina as small and tight as possible. It usually takes between 15 and 40 days for the wound to heal completely. Pharaonic circumcision is also performed by trained midwives with modern surgical techniques, including the use of catgut or silk to stitch the edges of the wound together.

[BlueJazz]

19. Thank you for educating me.

Once the woman is married, she often needs to be “deinfibulated” in order to have sexual intercourse. Sometimes, this means the husband using a corrosive chemical....

Agghh.....The world is darker than I thought it was. But I'm glad to be more informed. (No Smilies for this post)

[pnwmom]

20. You're welcome. It's been in the news here, because we have a significant group

of immigrants from Somalia, and doctors and others are struggling with how to prevent the families from taking their daughters back to Somalia for the procedure.

The debate had been whether it's ethical to offer them a much less severe procedure, performed by doctors, to keep them here. But it appears that issue has been settled now.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/11/america-s-underground-female-genital-mutilation-crisis.html

The response by health officials, meanwhile, has been mixed. In 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics proposed doctors should be allowed to “nick” girls so their families wouldn’t perform full-blown circumcision. After a wave of criticism, the suggestion was withdrawn.

“The U.S. is so far behind when it comes to this issue,” Dukureh says, citing a successful recent campaign in the U.K., where FGM was banned as a criminal offense in the 1985. “Because everything in this country is about politics. They think this doesn’t affect the vote, this is not like abortion, it’s not like some of other women’s rights issues.”

For activists working to build trust in insular immigrant communities without scaring away the people they’re trying to help, to combating FGM involves walking a fine line. Communities practicing FGM often feel strongly about their right to maintain a tradition carried out for generations. After starting her petition, Dukureh was so fervently targeted by proponents of the procedure that she had to shut down her Facebook account after people began commenting on pictures of her four-year-old daughter, saying if they ever met her they would mutilate her themselves.

[KamaAina]

2. Calling John Wayne Bobbitt!

John Wayne Bobbitt, pickup on Line One!

[father founding]

3. how to word this on a drivers license.

A new meaning to organ transplant.

[LeftinOH]

8. They'll get my pecker when they pry it from my cold, dead hands. n/t

[jtuck004]

17. If they are prying your pecker from your cold dead hands, you probably should have gotten out more.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

18. I excpect that will be how I die too - heart attack while masturbating.

[Hoyt]

26. Funniest thing I've seen this week.

[FLPanhandle]

9. I wonder if there is any feeling in it?

Connecting nerves would be harder than connecting the blood supply.

[uppityperson]

23. I hope there is more information about such things as time goes on, healing occurs. PENIS

there, had to do the obligatory penis word in caps since too many replies so far are all giggly about that.

I hope he heals well and it will be interesting to see what happens. Will he need to be taking drugs to keep his body from rejecting it? Will the nerves heal and he have feeling? Lots of interesting things to ponder.

Being able to have successful transplants is a huge thing for many people. Congratulations to him.

[riderinthestorm]

25. It says right in the OP that its fully healed and the young man's sexually active nt

[FLPanhandle]

36. Healed means from the surgery and sexually active means it's functional

It doesn't mention if he has much or any feeling in it.

[Evasporque]

11. queue penis augmentation....

Will be paid for by insurance no doubt....

[NickB79]

13. Ron Jeremy better run like hell.

Before he's "poached".

[ashling]

16. An answer to the latest trend in concealed carry?

At least five Americans accidentally shot off their penises since 2010

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/193576/at-least-five-americans-accidentally-shot-off-their-penises-since-2010/?utm_source=share-fb&utm_medium=button

[Android3.14]

21. Was it hard?

[47of74]

31. LOL

[Android3.14]

33. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm here all weekend.

[uppityperson]

22. That is great. I hope he heals well and quickly. Being able to have successful transplants is a

wonderful thing.

[MisterP]

24. was this the courier flight?

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N829BM

[jakeXT]

27. Ha, only in Florida

LAKELAND (FOX 13) -

If you looked to the sky Thursday night in Polk County, you may not have noticed anything unusual.

However, a quick check of FlightRadar24 – an airline tracking website – shows there was quite a show going on.

A Florida pilot in a private plane successfully attempted to draw a, ahem, not-so appropriate shape with his aircraft.

The flight tracker shows the pilot took off from Kissimmee on Thursday night heading southwest toward Lakeland. They turned north over Polk City, came back around south, flew over Lakeland, east over Auburndale, back over Polk City, and then headed northwest toward Hernando County.

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/28461937/fla-pilots-naughty-nsfw-flight-path-goes-viral

[davepdx]

28. I'm guessing that when Ted Cruz moved to the U.S. that it didn't count.

[Thor_MN]

29. Was he disappointed after the swelling went down?

[uppityperson]

30. I am amazed that I am the only rec for a successful medical procedure, esp the first one.

[Android3.14]

32. We were saving it just for you

[jtuck004]

34. When this news reaches Arkansas, they will know it is possible to replace Tom Cotton. n.t.

[Cooley Hurd]

35. Re-attachable Penis...