A 21-year-old man has received the world’s first successful penile transplant, surgeons say.

The man, whose name was not revealed for privacy reasons, had his organ amputated three years ago after a circumcision went wrong. Doctors at Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital in South Africa operated for nine hours in December, and just a few months later they say he’s already regained full function in the transplanted organ —a much faster recovery than they had hoped for.

“It’s a massive breakthrough. We’ve proved that it can be done – we can give someone an organ that is just as good as the one that he had,” Prof Frank Graewe, head of the Division of Plastic Reconstructive Surgery at Stellenbosch University, said. “It was a privilege to be part of this first successful penis transplant in the world.”

While at least one other attempt has been made at penile transplant, the surgeons say this is the first such operation to succeed.

In their announcement, the doctors emphasized the psychological trauma of penile amputation, a problem they say is particularly acute in South Africa.

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