Penis reconstruced after dog bite

BEIJING, Saturday (AFP) - Doctors in southern China have successfully reconstructed the penis of a man whose significant appendage was bitten off by a dog, state press reported today.

Doctors at a hospital affiliated with the Guangzhou city-based Sun Yat-sen University used skin and muscles from the 35-year old man's chest, and bone from his hip to reconstruct the penis, Xinhua news agency reported.

The man, identified only as Zhen, had his testicles bitten off by a dog when he was a boy, leading to mental and physical pressures for him as an adult, the report said.

The man's newly-constructed organ is 14 centimetres long (5.6 inches), the report cited plastic surgeon Zhang Jinming as saying.

“He can have a sex life and enjoy pleasant sensations -- but not as intensely as other people because he still doesn't have testicles,” Zhang said.

The successful operation comes after Guangzhou doctors undertook the world's first penis transplant in 2005 only to remove the organ two weeks later due to a “severe psychological problem” of the patient.

According to a report in European Urology magazine, the man and his wife had psychological difficulties accepting the penis which was taken from a person who had passed away.