A South African surgical team has announced the world’s first successful penile transplant.

A young man received a donor’s penis during a nine-hour procedure performed at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.


Now, three months after, the transplanted organ is fully functioning -- for sex and for urination -- though full sensation may take a bit longer.

The sexually active 21-year-old recipient will now be able to have children if he chooses to.

"It’s a massive breakthrough," Frank Graewe of Stellenbosch University says. "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."

Nine more patients will be receiving penile transplants as part of this study.