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Everything You Need to Know About Phalloplasty

Medically reviewed by Nicole M, RN on October 3, 2024.

What is a phalloplasty?

Phalloplasty is a gender affirming genital surgery which creates a penis using the existing genital tissue and tissue from another part of the body: often the forearm, thigh or groin. Some types of phalloplasty operations can use the nerve from another part of the body to allow for the possibility of heighted, erotic sensation in the new penis. Dr. Ley (she/her) is our board-certified gender affirming surgeon who performs phalloplasty for patients regardless of gender identity. Here we present information about the different phalloplasty options we offer, their results and why patients opt for them. Some of the topics we cover are phalloplasty scarring, urinating while standing, sensation, orgasms, penis size, penetrative sex (erections) and additional accompanying procedures that patients often solicit. Elsewhere on our website we have more information on how to prepare for and recover from a phalloplasty.

What kinds of phalloplasty operations does the GCC offer?

At the GCC, there are three donor zones we use to make a phallus for a patient:

• The groin tissue is used in a groin flap phalloplasty
• The sensitive forearm tissue is used in a radial forearm flap (RFF) phalloplasty 
• The sensitive outer thigh tissue is used in an anterolateral thigh flap (ALT) phalloplasty

During the initial phase, Dr. Ley and her team will construct the new penis. In a second phase, about 6 months after the new penis has healed, our team can conduct a urethral lengthening (so you can urinate while standing) removal of the vaginal canal (vaginectomy), and create a scrotum.. Patients are also given the option of preserving their vaginal canal and/or natal penis, which means we could leave the clitoral tissue in-tact at the base of the new penis. If a patient wishes to undergo a urethral lengthening to be able to pee from the tip of their penis, they cannot preserve their vaginal canal due to the high risk of urethral complications.