So, I noticed that the most recent post in the Transsexual Talk section was about an ovaries/fallopian tube/uterus transplant, and my curiosity got the best of me. I started checking it out, and I wanted to post there, but while some of the ladies of this forum post in the FTM section, I didn't see any posts from guys in there, so I though maybe we just don't? I don't know. But anyways, someone wanted to know if it is possible to transplant ovaries, fallopian tubes, and a uterus into a transwoman, to make it possible for MTFs to become pregnant, etc.

So, I'm going to take this topic and change it so that it applies to FTMs, but I'm curious to read your opinions.
1) Do you think that at some point in time, it will be possible for an FTM to get a functional testicular transplant, making him capable of producing sperm?
2) How many years do you think it will take to discover the medical technology so it will work?
3) Would you get it for yourself, taking into account cost and risk of rejection/infection?

I know that a uterine transplant can be done to let a woman be pregnant even though she doesn't for whatever reason have functional equipment, but they take it out with the baby so she doesn't need to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life.

If there were penis/testies/wholeshebang implants I'd still not get one because imagining having to watch it turn black and slough off if it got rejected makes me profoundly unhappy.

Naw, I;d rather stick to packing.

I'd gladly donate my uterus though.

Quote from: Aegir on November 26, 2010, 06:36:22 AM
If there were penis/testies/wholeshebang implants I'd still not get one because imagining having to watch it turn black and slough off if it got rejected makes me profoundly unhappy.

There's also a high chance of psychological rejection. 
Having someone elses body parts sewn onto you is nothing that you can prepare for. You could essentially have BIID.

I don't think we will see the ability to create a functional testical & sperm producing transplant anytime in my lifetime, if what you mean is a system that uses donor tissue and organ that functions as regular gonads do (I'm leaving out the idea of a transplant that would allow the body to manufacture sperm with its own DNA, because I don't even think modern science can explain how that is even possible now). Besides the fact that it is complicated with risks of rejection, I'm not sure I see the benefit or motivation in anyone spending research time and money to be able to do it.

For a woman, the ability to get pregnant and bear a child, is a powerful one - even if you can't create the ability to make one's own eggs. Transplanting a reproductive system that can function would be a profoundly helpful medical advance for women with reproductive organ problems in general, of whom MTF are only a small subset.

Meanwhile, how many guys really would want and benefit from transplanted testicular functioning and sperm if it wasn't actually their own anyway? Not sure who would be benefitted by this advance, and if there is no clear audience to be helping, no one is going to try. That's why I think we will see far superior penile transplant techniques in the next 2 decades. There are a bunch of subgroups of men who would benefit from medical developments in penile transplants, not just FTMs. Facial transplants, including the nerves, have been advancing at staggering rates, and given the number of nerves and complexity of the process, that gives hope that penile transplants can move forward too. The other stuff - full reproductive organ and functionality? Seem like it will lag behind cloning full people in a lab, even.

Quote from: Sean on November 26, 2010, 07:52:16 AM
Meanwhile, how many guys really would want and benefit from transplanted testicular functioning and sperm if it wasn't actually their own anyway? Not sure who would be benefitted by this advance, and if there is no clear audience to be helping, no one is going to try.

I think that would depend of if it was actually considered my sperm after the transplant. Ex: If I got a girl pregnant would it be considered my child or the implant donors child?

I think I'd be interested but it would all be a question of price, function, and success rate.

Quote from: Michael Alexander on November 26, 2010, 08:41:01 AM
I think that would depend of if it was actually considered my sperm after the transplant. Ex: If I got a girl pregnant would it be considered my child or the implant donors child?

I think I'd be interested but it would all be a question of price, function, and success rate.

I am focusing only on whose genetic make-up would be carried in such sperm. I'm ignoring legal or moral/religious definitions regarding fatherhood and parental status.

When people talk about transplanting uterus or ovaries or the female reproductive system, they are not talkng about the ability to produce eggs that have genetic material from the host (as opposed to the transplant donor).

If the question here is when will we see transplanted tissues, organs and cells and get them to produce sperm with host genetic make-up, as opposed to donor make-up, the answer is: we are quite far from such a break-through because this is more akin to what is being done for cloning than transplants. If the question is when will we see transplanted tissues, organs and cells that produce the donor's genetical material, then I'd think this is medically "easier" on some level, yet no one would really care that much to have it. Because if you're using donor sperm, why not just do it an old fashioned way of artificial insemination. Thinking about it further, I can't imagine how they would overcome the rejection issue either - how can you prevent the host body from rejecting the foreign sperm in such a way that damages it & renders it unable of fertilizing an egg? Big challenge that no one has much incentive to solve.

I don't think it'll ever happen.  Not transplants.  I'm sure the technology for replacing male genitals will improve, but I don't expect transplants to be the solution.  I think what's more likely to happen (a long time from now) is that we'll be able to trick the body into growing a penis.  And maybe testicles too.  But I think any new techniques that develop will use the body's own tissue, not foreign tissue.

However, if it were possible to transplant a male reproductive system without it being rejected, yes, of course I'd do it.

I'm holding out for that gene-therapy they used on the mice that over-rode the XX chromosome instructions and changed their sex to male (including causing the ovaries to transform into testicles). I'm sure that won't happen anytime soon but the fact that they've actually already DONE this to an adult creature gives me a little hope.

Quote from: Sean on November 26, 2010, 07:52:16 AM
For a woman, the ability to get pregnant and bear a child, is a powerful one - even if you can't create the ability to make one's own eggs.

That's something I just don't understand at all.     The thought of getting pregnant is so repulsive to me.  In the past, anytime it came up that I really really wanted a hysterectomy, the women I was talking to would be horrified.  And I'd be treated like I was somehow disturbed.  And this was without bringing up anything about being trans.

Quote from: M.Grimm on November 26, 2010, 05:05:54 PM
I'm holding out for that gene-therapy they used on the mice that over-rode the XX chromosome instructions and changed their sex to male (including causing the ovaries to transform into testicles). I'm sure that won't happen anytime soon but the fact that they've actually already DONE this to an adult creature gives me a little hope.

Me too.  Just the possibility is enough to give me some second thoughts about getting rid of the ovaries (the uterus however will definitely be getting the bon voyage).  I hate needles, I would love to not have to give myself a shot every week or two.  And to be making your own T!!!  It would be great if they could make them create sperm too, and somehow make a scrotum and transplant the ovaries inside.  That might be too much wishful thinking at this point though.

I think that it will be possible someday but probably not within my lifetime.  If it were, I would happily go for it.  All the substitutes today seem very lacking, and I feel that they would be a constant reminder that I will never have a real dick.  The thought of being able to be complete and normal, though, is really nice.

I don't think there are that many spare penises lying around that haven't come from cadavers, and I know I wouldn't want a cadaver penis.  I think a better hope is tissue printing--printing exact replicas of one's own physical tissue.  The tissue DNA could be changed to male, and then a physical duplicate of what your penis WOULD have looked like had you been biologically male can be constructed.  A surgeon would then connect veins and nerves appropriately.