Penectomy is penis removal through surgery, generally for medical or personal reasons.
Medical reasons for penectomy
, for example, sometimes necessitates removal of part or all of the penis. The amount of penis removed depends on the severity of the cancer. Some men have only the tip of their penis removed. For others with more advanced cancer, the entire penis must be removed. In rare instances, botched circumcisions have also resulted in full or partial penectomies, as with David Reimer. Fournier gangrene can also be a reason for penectomy and/or orchiectomy.
Follow-up support
Because of the rarity of cancers which require the partial or total removal of the penis, support from people who have had the penis removed can be difficult to find locally. Website support networks are available. For instance, the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors Network website provides information for finding support networks. Phalloplasty is also an option for surgical reconstruction of a penis.
Patients that have undergone a partial penectomy as a result of a penile cancer diagnosis have reported similar sexual outcomes as prior to surgery. Sexual support therapists and specialists are available nationally in the United States and can be accessed through the specialist cancer services. Many surgeons or hospitals will also provide this information post operatively. Local governmenthealth services departments may be able to provide advice, names, and contact numbers.
Procedure
Genital surgical procedures for trans women undergoing genital reconstruction surgery do not usually involve the complete removal of the penis. Instead, part or all of the glans is usually kept and reshaped as a clitoris, while the skin of the penile shaft may also be inverted to form the vagina. When procedures such as this are not possible, other procedures such as colovaginoplasty are used which may involve the removal of the penis. Some trans women have undergone penectomies, however this is much rarer.
Personal reasons
Issues related to the removal of the penis appear in psychology, for example in the condition known as castration anxiety, which happens as a result of a man having anxiety as to whether he may at some point become castrated. People who are third gender will sometimes want an emasculation by choosing to have their penis, testicles, or both removed. Male members in the sect of skoptsy were required to become castrated, either only the testicles or also the penis.
