Roughly half of gender-changing surgeries are transmasculine – woman to man – but Elijah Stephens' surgery made history in New Jersey as doctors made a penis from the transgender patient's own body, NJ Advance Media reported.
Stephens, 28, from Magnolia, New Jersey, became the state's first transgender patient to undergo phalloplasty in a female-to-male genital reassignment surgery, receiving both a penis as well as a scrotum, noted the Rutgers Center for Transgender Health.
Doctors at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston took the sensory nerves from tissue of one of his forearms and attached it to the sensory nerves of the clitoris, while his scrotum was made from his labia.
Since the surgery, Stephens has been able to urinate standing up and achieve an orgasm.
"It's hard to put into words," Stephens told North Jersey.com. "I feel whole, complete — happy beyond happy."
It was the first such operation for Dr. Jonathan Keith, founder and director of the Rutgers Center for Transgender Health, who led the 15-member surgery team, NJ Advance Media said.
Keith, who studied under a renowned sexual reassignment surgeon in Belgium, had specialized in microsurgery and transplants before, North Jersey.com said.
"There's no textbook written on this," Keith said about his work with eight surgeons and seven other physicians to complete the operation. "What was once done on the fringes, and on a cash-only basis, has now become much more accepted and is covered by most insurance."
For Stephens, who started his transition in 2014 after battling years of depression, insecurity, relationship issues, and thoughts of suicide, it was a life-changing procedure, NJ Advance Media said.
"I love who I am," Stephens said. "Because I didn't like who I was, and to see how far I've come; that's what keeps me grounded.”
"Life begins after surgery. My life didn't start until this was done. And now I've hit the ground running," he added.
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