Use of Erectile Prostheses in Patients with Free Forearm Flap Phalloplasty

ABSTRACT

Today, the free radial forearm flap phalloplasty is the method of choice for most surgeons engaged in female to male sex reassignment surgery. However, one of the main disadvantages of this procedure is the patients' inability to have sexual intercourse, due to their missing ability to have an erection. In this paper, we present our experiences with more than 100 patients that we provided with erectile prostheses that were originally designed for the use in biological males suffering from erectile dysfunction. We will show that the complication rate in transsexual patients is not significantly higher than in biological males. We therefore recommend the use of erectile prostheses in transsexual patients as a safe, reliable and successful way of obtaining the ability to have sexual intercourse.