A US war veteran has received a full penis transplant - and it's the most complex one ever performed.
The US Navy Corpsman, identified only as Ray, lost both of his legs after stepping on a roadside bomb while serving in Afghanistan in 2010.
The explosion destroyed his genitals and part of his abdominal wall.
Most men who lose their genitals are given phalloplasty - a penis created from tissue, nerves and blood vessels taken from a thigh or arm.
But Ray received a full penis taken from a brain-dead donor.
He spoke for the first time since his 2018 surgery and says receiving the transplant was "one of the best decisions I ever made".
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"This was actually something that could fix me, I could go back to being normal again," he told MIT Technology Review.
Ray says he opened up about his surgery to let other veterans know it was an option.
According to a 2017 report 1367 male US soldiers received injuries to their genitals between October 2001 and August 2013.
The number is on the rise due to the use of roadside bombs.
Soldiers wear protective armour which protects their torso and vital organs - but when roadside bombs explode from below, their genitals are often unprotected and directly in the line of fire.
Ray's surgery took 11 surgeons and 14 hours.
"We felt very confident we could do it, but we had never done it," said Dr Richard Reddet.
"If you're not anxious for something like that, you're not thinking hard enough."
There have been four penis transplants before Ray's, but his was the most complex due to the severity of his injuries, reports MIT Technology Review.
Surgeons had to stitch nerves, arteries, blood vessels and veins which were finer than a human hair to attach the donor penis and scrotum.
A year after the procedure Ray says he can now urinate standing up and achieve an erection.
"This is not going to be a quick fix, but I've seen improvement over time."
Newshub.
