Story highlights A marathon operation lasted about nine hours

Doctors used techniques, in part, developed for the world's first facial transplant

Patient had his penis amputated after a ritual, nonmedical circumcision.

(CNN) South African doctors have achieved what they call the world's first successful penile transplant operation.

The nine-hour operation occurred on December 11, 2014, involving a team of doctors at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town and others from Tygerberg Hospital.

The young man, whose identity "is being protected for ethical reasons," has made a full recovery -- a result which the doctors did not expect to occur until about December 2016. The recovery includes, "restoration of all the patient's urinary and reproductive functions," according to a university press release Friday.

"It's a massive breakthrough. We've proved that it can be done" said Professor Frank Graewe, head of the division of plastic reconstructive surgery at Stellenbosch University. "We can give someone an organ that is just as good as the one that he had."

The patient's penis was amputated after complications arose from a traditional circumcision, which was performed during a coming of age ceremony. Such initiation practices are common in African nations, but have increasingly come under scrutiny for risk of complications.

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