# Regrowing limbs...how close?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 27, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806 "2008-05-27T21:14:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806/1 "2008-05-27T21:14:48Z")
Was reading [this](http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/05/26/regrowing.body.parts/index.html) article on CNN and thinking…well, WOW! How close are we to a breakthrough that will allow us to regrow limbs or damaged organs? Could this technology be widely available in my lifetime??
-XT
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806/2 "2008-05-27T21:17:08Z")
I’m gonna get my foreskin back!
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806/3 "2008-05-27T21:27:56Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme]
Was reading [this](http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/05/26/regrowing.body.parts/index.html) article on CNN and thinking…well, WOW! How close are we to a breakthrough that will allow us to regrow limbs or damaged organs? Could this technology be widely available in my lifetime??
-XT
[/QUOTE]
Aren’t we all going to live to be 200? Or maybe forever? Everything will happen in our lifetimes!
The real answer, of course, is that nobody knows. Nobody knows if this won’t have disabling side effects. Nobody knows if it can be scaled up. Nobody knows if it will be too expensive. Nobody knows if it won’t work for some or many people. Heck, nobody knows how old you are.
It’s a limited test and nothing real can be extrapolated from it. We’ve seen a million miracle cures over the years that haven’t panned out.
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### Author:  [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806/4 "2008-05-27T21:34:00Z")
need answer fast!
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### Author:  [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806/5 "2008-05-27T21:49:34Z")
If this technology could be exploited to increase the size of one’s wiener, it would have happened yesterday.
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### Author:  [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806/6 "2008-05-27T21:57:55Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict]
If this technology could be exploited to increase the size of one’s wiener, it would have happened yesterday.
[/QUOTE]
It has!!! Send me $1000 and I’ll show you how! 😃
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806/7 "2008-05-27T22:30:32Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme]
Was reading [this](http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/05/26/regrowing.body.parts/index.html) article
[/QUOTE]
See this earlier article:
[Regenerative Powder Helped Re-Grow A Man’s Fingertip, And Could Change Medicine](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/07/eveningnews/main3805318.shtml)
There does seem to be something new going on in regeneration.
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### Author:  [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-limbs-how-close/450806/8 "2008-05-27T23:08:25Z")
The powder has been reported before and the evidence for the company’s claims weighed [here](http://www.badscience.net/?p=669) (nasty looking finger injury picture warning)
The story about it regrowing a fingertip has been derided by a leading hand surgeon (Simon Kay, to be exact, professor of hand surgery at the University of Leeds) as nothing he wouldn’t expect from a non-powder treated finger.