A British man born with no penis is preparing for ground-breaking surgery that will attempt to create a functioning organ from the skin of his arm.
If the surgery is successful, it would end decades of torment for 39-year-old Andrew Wardle, who was born with testicles but no penis and with his bladder outside his body.
“I never thought this day would come, and I still can’t believe it is possible for me to actually have a fully functioning penis,” Wardle told The Sun newspaper in London.
Wardle’s bladder was surgically repaired, and doctors fitted him with a tube in his bladder to urinate.
“I got used to hiding. Apart from the operations, I could live like a normal lad my age,” Wardle said.
“It was when I got into my teens and started getting interested in girls that it became a problem.”
He boasted that even without a penis, he has bedded more than 100 women — although he has been limited as to what he can accomplish.
He said he relied on drugs such as ecstasy and LSD as a crutch to hide his disability.
“By taking drugs, I gave myself the perfect cover,” he said. “I’d bed girls but said things could only go so far because the drugs meant I couldn’t rise to the occasion.’’
Surgeons plan to use the skin, nerves and blood vessels from his forearm to build a penis that ejaculates.