Man, 40, who lost his penis during a circumcision 17 years ago undergoes world's third successful penis transplant - but there's a 'color discrepancy' that surgeons will 'fix with tattooing'

• A 40-year-old man had the world's third successful penis transplant in April 
• The patient, who is unnamed for ethical reasons, lost his member 17 years ago
• It was done by South African surgeons who did the first successful transplant
• The patient will regain urinary and reproductive functions within six months
• A color discrepancy will be fixed by medical tattooing within eight months

South African surgeons completed the world's third successful penis transplant on a man who went without his member for 17 years.

The 40-year-old patient, who is unnamed for ethical reasons, lost his penis due to complications from a traditional circumcision. 

Finally, on April 21 this year, his organ was restored. 

However, surgeons admit there is a color discrepancy between the organ and recipient - which will be fixed with medical tattooing later this year.

The operation was performed by the same team of medical experts who performed their first successful penis transplant in December 2014. 

Now after a nearly 10-hour surgery at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, the hospital is on the map again for being the first location to successfully do the procedure twice.

Within six months of the transplant, the man is expected to regain all urinary and reproductive functions. 

Professor André van der Merwe, head of Stellenbosch University's urology department led the lengthy operation and said the patient was doing well.

He said: 'He is certainly one of the happiest patients we have seen in our ward. He is doing remarkably well. There are no signs of rejection and all the reconnected structures seem to be healing well.'  

Van der Merwe and his team completed the first successful penis transplant on December 11, 2014, then the second was completed in Boston in May 2016.

Professor van der Merwe had spent years experimenting on cadavers to see which nerves, blood vessels and other elements had to be joined to guarantee full function.

The procedure was performed as part of a pilot study to develop a penile transplant procedure that could be performed in a typical South African hospital.

The planning and preparation for the first study started back in 2010.

After extensive research Professor van der Merwe and his surgical team decided to use techniques developed for the first facial transplant.

'There are a number of men who would benefit from this operation but the issue is a lack of donors and also a lack of funding,' he told MailOnline in March 2015, when the procedure was made public.

A follow-up operation enabled the first patient to urinate normally, without the aid of a catheter, and the doctors said his overall confidence had risen considerably since the procedure. 

The first patient made a full recovery - a result which the doctors did not expect to occur until about December 2016.

Professor van der Merwe said they were surprised by the patient's rapid recovery.

Speaking at the time, he said: 'Our goal was that he would be fully functional at two years and we are very surprised by his rapid recovery.'  

Then in 2015, it was revealed the man was able to get his girlfriend pregnant after his surgery which restored the member after he lost all but a 1cm stump of his penis following a botched circumcision.

His team's initial success was followed by Thomas Manning's operation, who became the first American recipient of a penis transplant. 

After two follow-up surgeries, Manning said he could urinate normally and he was able to walk around.

Sexual function was still months away and reproduction wouldn't be possible because he did not receive new testes.

Manning, whose penis was amputated after he was diagnosed with penile cancer in 2012, never married and has no children.

'It took me a few days to look at it, so confidence comes and goes,' Manning said, blinking away tears. 'It's one of those things that, if you look at it, it doesn't look too good.'  

The first transplant patient had sought medical help after being left with a non-functioning stump following a bungled procedure by an inept traditional 'surgeon'.

As many as 250 men are estimated to lose their penises each year in a secret and brutal initiation ceremony conducted by the Xhosa tribe in South Africa.

During the month of June, which marks the start of a new harvest, thousands of boys are sent naked into remote areas to survive with little more than a blanket and meager rations.

The ritual is known as ukwaluka and has been practiced for generations.

The ultimate test of the rite of passage is the process of ukwaluka - the cutting of the penis foreskin that is done by an incibi - a traditional surgeon - which symbolizes the beginning of manhood.

However, infections and other complications are coming causing the death of scores of teenagers.

Each year, there are repeated calls for the ritual to be stopped.

Van der Mewe said the success of the procedure meant it could eventually also be extended to men who have lost their penises from penile cancer or as a last-resort treatment for severe erectile dysfunction due to the side effects from medication.

While full statistics are not available on the number of non medical circumcisions carried out in Eastern and Southern Africa, reports from the World Health Organization show it is as low as two per cent in parts of South Africa and up to 35 percent in Kenya.