How a doctor’s two-decade quest to grow the penis is leaving some men desperate and disfigured.

Do articles about medicine go in the Science community? Seemed like the best place for what I thought was a really well written article about this niche subject matter.

… Kevin said that he had undergone five surgeries with Elist, including two upgrades, a revision and a removal, and his penis no longer functioned.

Still, Kevin had always found the surgeon to be caring, if a little preoccupied. “He reminded me of Doctor Franken­stein — the intensity of him wanting this thing to come to life,” Kevin told me. It sounded strange, he acknowledged, but before each operation he’d been filled with excitement. “You just feel relieved that you’re fixing something,” he said.

At an appointment earlier this year, Kevin said, Elist promised to fix him again with a sixth procedure, but one of the surgeon’s assistants discreetly advised against it…

  •  Griseowulfin   ( @Griseowulfin@beehaw.org ) 
    4•1 year ago

    Yeah, people tend to think that physicians and surgeons can work miracles, which sadly is not the case. This leads to anger, sadness, and even mistrust in the healthcare field when the answer is “if it hurt to do that, then don’t do that”, “there’s no magic pill to erase the damage that has already occurred”, and ultimately, “surgery is ultimately limited by skill, technology, and the patient’s body”. We just don’t have all that, though I hope we keep pushing. Medicine is a weird mashup of addressing problems that are physiological, mental, or both (and sometimes we can’t tell which), sometimes there’s not a perfect solution. Not all physicians are good at explaining that; not all patients are comfortable hearing that.

    I wish you the best in your journey, it’s not easy to do that research and be introspective, but I hope it is fulfilling no matter what you decide to do.