Lab grown genitals and spray on skin

[invisible]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/48976348/ns/health-mens_health/#.UFDRSVH5CSo

No mention of use for trans people, and still a ways off time-wise before "common" usage, but its something, and probably of interest to some?


Modern medicine: Lab-grown genitals, spray-on skin /
Advances in regenerative medicine may let patients grow own transplants
By Maggie Fox, NBC News
updated 9/11/2012 8:26:39 AM ET

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/48976348/ns/health-mens_health/#.UFTTAo1lQeF

A few years ago, Dr. Anthony Atala's lab at Wake Forest University got good at making ears. They were growing new ears on a scaffold using patient's cells, because so many soldiers were losing their ears in explosions. Now the Department of Defense has a project that's closer to Atala's heart: making new genitals for soldiers who have stepped on bombs.

Other labs are still moving forward with the ear project for the military. But Atala has special expertise dating back to his days as a pediatric urologist. He's already grown bladders using a patient's own cells, and he's made penises that rabbits were able to put to their proper use, fathering litters of new little bunnies. He hopes to use this expertise to help rebuild the bodies of veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as men and boys injured in car accidents.
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Expanded original post to meet News Forum standards. -MadelineB

[Rita]

I am sorry but the first thing that came to my mind was "Spray on Breasts", or like going to the mall and seeing jars full of penises to choose from xD.

Am I terrible, please tell me I am not the only one.

I think its cool, but I doubt it will see any use for a transgendered individual for a very long time.  But it might see use in our life time to save our lives!  Or possibly ensure we can continue to safely take hormones if our liver is not in optimal condition.

As far as cosmetic use goes, we will probably see it first to get rid the visual signs of aging on our skin.  Secondly one use that will be beneficial to transgendered individuals with something like spray on skin becomes our own skin would be for SRS.  No need for donor skin if we can basically make skin.

I see the last part being very beneficial to FtM's in the near future.  that is if it works how I imagine!

[Edge]

I love science and I very much like the idea of being able to grow my own junk.

even to find ways to get fingers to regenerate on their own. (It has to do with waking up some very powerful DNA that goes to sleep soon after a fetus develops)

This in particular I find very interesting.

[dalebert]

There was a story about a guy who sprayed something on his finger stub (right after the injury) and grew his finger tip back. They affectionately called it pixie dust but I forget the technical name for it.

Did a search. Not the same article I read but refers to the same thing.
http://defensetech.org/2008/05/28/pixie-dust-may-regrow-fingers/

And here's a little more on it.
http://www.geekologie.com/2008/05/fingerregrowing-pixie-dust-is.php

[Shantel]

I love science and I very much like the idea of being able to grow my own junk.This in particular I find very interesting.

I remember a house framer who accidentally cut his dangling modifier off when he laid a board across his knee to cut it and the saw jumped back.  The crew put it in ice and he was raced to the ER. Some of my contemporaries at the time said he should have been taken to Wang lab, which was a really crude Neanderthal male joke (Wang Lab deals in electronic office equipment). Anyway, it is interesting to see how medical science has arrived at the place where they can now grow body parts in a petrie dish. Perhaps there is hope for a solution to the lower-end anxieties for FtM's in hopes they will come up with something that may really work.

[dalebert]

Perhaps there is hope for a solution to the lower-end anxieties for FtM's in hopes they will come up with something that may really work.

You're talking about something subjective in a very objective manner. I would encourage a rephrasing something along the lines of "It could expand and enhance options for FtMs", which it would.

Anyway, I'm not surgeon but I was having some thoughts on this subject. This is total speculation from a layman. I was thinking about the surgeries that involve implanting a prosthetic for achieving erections and it was pointed out that the prosthetic needs to be periodically replaced which calls for another surgery.

Has anyone given thoughts to a sock-like organ with an opening at the base where a prosthetic could be inserted? I guess right now they can form a penis out of skin and fill it with some tissue or with a prosthetic and then sew it up. Imagine if instead they make it hollow with a layer of skin on the inside and the outside. It could have nerves and blood vessels in it just like the current version. Then a prosthetic could be inserted and removed through a permanent opening at the base, perhaps above some similarly formed testicles, and without any new surgery. It would take roughly twice as much skin, but if they start growing skin with these new procedures, maybe that's very doable and without all the scarring that has to happen right now.

So picture the fluid pump device as it is now, but it would fit inside this sock. A reservoir of fluid (two actually) could perhaps even be fitted inside a scrotum built the same way.

Just a thought. Maybe it's totally nuts and not viable for some medical reason which is beyond me.

[dalebert]

I forgot something.

Imagine this sock kind of being attached to blood vessels and nerves above/around the former clitoris that has likely been enlarged and become more penis-like from T. The prosthetic could be fitted to this somehow to provide additional stimulation during sex.

[Padma]

For behold, I am such a teenager - "maybe it's totally nuts" made me giggle .

[Shantel]

I forgot something.

Imagine this sock kind of being attached to blood vessels and nerves above/around the former clitoris that has likely been enlarged and become more penis-like from T. The prosthetic could be fitted to this somehow to provide additional stimulation during sex.

Your thought process is really quite analytical and I think well thought through, of course you have a vested interest, but I wonder how many medical R & D people have even given it any consideration? It might be worth pursuing because such a development would be widely received. I know my MtF friends wouldn't give it any credibility and I above all completely understand their lack of interest. However, I do recall a fellow that took a bullet in the backside and the exit wound was horrific wiping out his genitalia. There are a lot of CIS males who have suffered similar accidents in war zones and workplace accidents like the one I cited earlier. Perhaps you should follow up on your idea because it could be potentially beneficial to more than FtM people.

[Snowpaw]

This is completely awesome. Here's hoping that they can also make ovaries and stuff too :O

[dalebert]

...of course you have a vested interest...

Not really. Of course I'd be thrilled for there to be more options to make people more comfortable in their bodies and deal with dysphoria and such but I have no personal vested interest. First, I'm cis-gendered and don't need it for myself. Second, I prefer the original plumbing when it comes to trans guys if I were to date one and if I were a trans guy myself, I'm pretty sure I'd stick to my original plumbing as well.

[Shantel]

Guess I mis-read you sorry! Gee, what do I know....I'm a dork! 

[Kitteh Engimeer]

Is it terribly juvenile that I can't help but giggle at the idea of a petri-dish penis?

[dalebert]

Penises are forever entwined with humor. They will never be separated. As sexual as they can be at times, there's just something really funny about them. They look funny. You look funny when you adjust them. They sometimes make you do ridiculous things...

[Kitteh Engimeer]

Right? This reminds me of the first time I went to an adult toy shop. Floppy-hilariousness ensued.

But... not the right forum for this. (sorry)

[Rita]

Is it terribly juvenile that I can't help but giggle at the idea of a petri-dish penis?

Definitely not because I am right there giggling with you. *hands you some goggles and takes out the microscope*

Lets get sciency!