A 21-year-old man has undergone the world's first successful penis transplant.

The 'ground-breaking' operation took South African surgeons nine hours to perform, and allowed the patient to urinate normally and become sexually active again.

Three years ago the man, who remains unidentified, was forced to have his penis amputated after a botched circumcision.

Each year thousands of young men, mainly from the Xhosa tribe in South Africa, have their foreskins removed in traditional rituals, with experts estimating around 250 losing their penises each year to medical complications.

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A 21-year-old man has become the first person in the world to undergo a successful penis transplant, in a nine hour operation at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa

The operation was carried out by surgeons from Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, using a penis donated from a deceased person.

They said the procedure allowed the man to regain all function in the newly transplanted organ.

Nine more patients will now receive penile transplants.

Professor André van der Merwe, head of the University's Division of Urology, said they were surprised by the patient's rapid recovery.

He said: 'Our goal was that he would be fully functional at two years and we are very surprised by his rapid recovery.

Professor Frank Graewe, another of the hospital's surgeons who assisted on the operation, said: '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.'

'It was a privilege to be part of this first successful penis transplant in the world.'

Professor van der Merwe said having a penis amputated is known to have a seriously adverse psychological effect on men.

'This is a very serious situation,' he said.

'For a young man of 18 or 19 years the loss of his penis can be deeply traumatic.

As part of the procedure, doctors transplanted a new penis, donated by a deceased man. The pictures, left and right, show the veins and blood vessels they connected

After the nine hour operation, the man recovered rapidly. The procedure has allowed him to become sexually active again. The picture shows how the nerves of the donated penis were joined to the man's genital region

He doesn't necessarily have the psychological capability to process this. There are even reports of suicide among these young men.'

He added that finding a donor organ was one of the main challenges to the procedures, and called the man who donated his penis, and his family, 'heroes'.

The procedure was performed as part of a pilot study to develop a penile transplant procedure that could be performed in a typical South African hospital.

The planning and preparation for the study started in 2010.

After extensive research Professor Van der Merwe and his surgical team decided to use techniques developed for the first facial transplant.

The operation was the second time that this type of procedure was attempted, but the first time in history that a successful long-term result was achieved.

Image shows the nerves in the donated penis, which were joined to the man's groin area. This was the first successful operation of its kind, as a previous attempt did not lead to long-term recovery

A man in China received a transplant in 2005 but that man asked surgeons to remove the new organ two weeks later.

Professor Van der Mewe said the procedure could eventually also be extended to men who have lost their penises from penile cancer or as a last-resort treatment for severe erectile dysfunction due to the side effects from medication.

The South African Government praised surgeons who performed the operation.

Dr Beth Engelbrecht, head of Western Cape Government Health, said: 'We are very proud to be part of this ground-breaking scientific achievement.

'It is good to know that a young man's life has been significantly changed with this very complex surgical feat.