A Brief History of Penis Enlargement Surgery: Procedures and Business

A Brief History of the Phalloplasty Procedure

Phalloplasty first took significance in the 1980s as a surgical remedy for micro penis, a congential defect where the penis measures less than 6cm. Soon later, the procedure and techniques involved in the surgery were redefined to focus directly on lengthening the penis by surgically releases the suspensory ligament that held the penis to the pubic bone. This revision of the procedure was coined by a surgeon in China, Long Daochao, and has not changed much since then. Daochao is said to be the inventor of Phalloplasty.

Daochao's contributions to Phalloplasty involved the lengthening of the penis. The surgery involves cutting open the skin at the base of the shaft, which exposes the suspensory ligament. This ligament anchors the penis to the body, and once it is cut, the penis drops down and forward. The gap created between the shaft and bone in then covered by stretching the skin from the lower abdomen.

Soon later, another surgeon named Richardo Samitier began researching on how to increase the width of the penis. His contribution included liposuctioning fat from another area of the body, then injecting it underneath the skin of the penis. This technique was later adapted to inject dermal fat grafts instead of pure fat injections. This includes the surgeon removing two narrow pieces of flesh from the patient's body, sewing them together, and inserting them underneath the skin from an incision in the penis. This creates a smoother penis than pure fat injections, which can lead to bulges or bunches in fat deposits.

The newest, and most common technique used today is to use tissue generated from cadavers. This tissue is inserted underneath the skin of the penis, like fat grafts, but this allows for blood cells to generate the tissue and incorporate into the body. Though this is the most recent, and most effective penis enlargement surgery for the girth of the penis, doctors are still mixed on its effectiveness. Some surgeons use it without worry, and others believe that the tissue will never amalgamate into the body.

An Odd Path for Medical Practices and Ethics

Once Phalloplasty become relatively "known" in the 1990s, demand for the surgery rose drastically. Although mysterious and intriguing to men, the practice was still relatively new and archaic, and myths spread that the surgery resulted in a grossly deformed, permanently limp penis. This somewhat depleted the demand for the operation, but soon inflated again in the mid 1990s.

Enter the "Penis Surgery King".. a man by the name of Melvyn Rosenstein who performed his first Phalloplasty Surgery in 1991. He soon become more of entrepreneurial force rather than an ethical doctor, performing more than 4,000 procedures in the next 4 years. Growing cocky in his Southern California practice, Rosenstein placed advertisements in major publications, magazines, and newspapers, claiming he was the authority in Phalloplasty and that he would double the size of your penis. In 1996, he was sued by numerous patients for malpractice and would have his Urology license suspended by the state of California. "When the medication wore off, my life went to the pits," a patient said, "I've never experienced so much pain in my life."

Since then, the process and ethics involved in the industry have cleaned up substantially, though skeptics still remain. Many surgeons and Urologists will still not perform the operation, but will help fix patients with who received botched operations. Care should still be given if when selecting a Urologist for this operation.