# Amid Stiff Odds, Penis Transplant a Success **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 17, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949 "2016-05-17T00:17:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/1 "2016-05-17T00:17:47Z")
The first successful penis transplant in the US – again, in the US, as I believe it’s been done elsewhere – has been proclaimed a success. Story [here](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/16/health/first-u-s-penis-transplant/). 64-year-old Thomas Manning had to have his own penis amputated four years ago due to cancer. His new penis was attached in a 15-hour operation performed by scores of doctors and nurses. So if you ever are feeling sorry for yourself, spare a thought for this man and be grateful for what you have. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/2 "2016-05-17T00:26:37Z")
Was it a hard surgery? This is pretty monumental, will they erect a statue in his honor? I bet this doctor is pretty cocky now The patient is now a proud member of society He’s just like every Tom Dick and Harry ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/3 "2016-05-17T00:33:37Z")
No doubt the patient can now feel a vas deferens. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/4 "2016-05-17T00:34:10Z")
Ace offers a standing ovation. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/5 "2016-05-17T02:39:17Z")
I want to hear the story about why 1,300 servicemen, mostly under 30, are coming home from the Middle East in need of a penis transplant. Apparently not an issue among the civilian population that was urgent enough to need to be addressed. (1300 was the number cited in the interview on CBS news.) I believe the current number is 51,000 US wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. 1,300 would be 2.5% of all wounded servicemen (and women) involving the penis,which were serious enough that a transplant is required. That’s one out of forty. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/6 "2016-05-17T02:49:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 1,300 would be 2.5% of all wounded servicemen (and women) involving the penis, I doubt the women are suffering penis injuries. Where are they getting donors? They carefully don’t say. Cadavers? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/7 "2016-05-17T02:54:45Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > I doubt the women are suffering penis injuries. > > Where are they getting donors? They carefully don’t say. Cadavers? Same place they get other organs. Donors have to still be “live”. I do have a tasteless joke but this is one someone else can go there. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/8 "2016-05-17T13:32:49Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > I doubt the women are suffering penis injuries. I add (and women) to emphasis that it is 2.5% of all war wounds, including casualties who don’t even posses that particular organ. So well over 2.5 among those who are susceptible to the pesentation With a very high number of civilian cases involving late-life cancer, what accounts for so many penis failures among young military personnel? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/9 "2016-05-17T15:01:02Z")
Saltpeter? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/10 "2016-05-17T15:06:46Z")
IEDs, I’d guess. Things that blow up from the ground as you’re walking. Kudos to the OP, but you missed a chance to say “overcomes stiff odds.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/11 "2016-05-17T15:17:30Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > IEDs, I’d guess. Things that blow up from the ground as you’re walking. > > Kudos to the OP, but you missed a chance to say “overcomes stiff odds.” 😉 Check the thread title. I just hope the guy doesn’t get overly excited the first time and stroke out. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/12 "2016-05-17T15:20:41Z")
According to the surgeon, “While sexual function is a goal, reproduction is not, because of a concern surrounding the ethical issues of who the potential father may be.” Say what? Doesn’t the patient still have his own testicles? Nowhere in the article does it say they were also transplanted. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/13 "2016-05-17T15:28:52Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Check the thread title My point is, “overcomes” is funnier than “amid” _and_ a more cliched news headline. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/14 "2016-05-17T16:30:30Z")
If he later gets it amputated, would it be a false dickotomy? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/15 "2016-05-17T16:49:26Z")
After I die, I want to donate my organs. But only after rigor mortis has set in. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/16 "2016-05-17T16:58:31Z")
Is the operation referred to as an addadicktome? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/17 "2016-05-17T17:16:16Z")
On a serious note, I just can’t see this having a good ending. Penises can be reconstructed from existing tissue (although it’s not quite what he was born with) and this way, you don’t have to deal with antirejection drugs, which are dangerous in their own right. Some people who have had hand transplants have stopped taking the meds because their QOL was lower with the hand, due to the meds making them chronically ill. A woman who had a uterus transplant (now, THAT is a disaster waiting to happen!) rejected hers the day after the “successful” surgery was announced. I will personally consider this procedure a success if he dies many years from now from unrelated issues, with his organ intact. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/18 "2016-05-17T17:58:44Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Say what? Doesn’t the patient still have his own testicles? Nowhere in the article does it say they were also transplanted. Based on another article I read on this case, his testicles were also removed when his penis was. They didn’t want to transplant new testicles along with the new penis to avoid ethical issues. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/19 "2016-05-17T19:01:01Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > …and this way, you don’t have to deal with antirejection drugs, which are dangerous in their own right. But will come in most handy when he returns to the dating scene. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949/20 "2016-05-17T20:04:53Z")
This needs to be made into a major motion picture, just for the headline. “Coming Soon - The Tom Manning Story”. On a less serious note, would the new equipment “work”, in the sense of being able to reach orgasm? I used to train with an engineer who made some kind of penis pump - AFAICT legitimate ones. It was some device or other that they implanted in the scrotum, and one kind of turned a switch and things would inflate. I don’t know if that enabled full function, in the sense of orgasm, but he talked once about developing a device that was similar to a device called a probang that would be incorporated into the device. A probang is a device with which my father the veterinarian was familiar. It is used in collecting semen from bulls for use in artificial insemination. It is electric in nature, and sends a charge (I think) thru the prostate, which is apparently enough to send the bull into his Happy Place pretty much at once. My friend the penis pump engineer talked about adding this functionality to his penis pump. Don’t know if that is actually available as an option nowadays, or if it is done in humans at all. I imagine such a combination would be kind of large and invasive. Regards, Shodan [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amid-stiff-odds-penis-transplant-a-success/754949.md?page=2)