See, girls, science is really fun: vaginas can now be grown in laboratories and implanted in the human crotch.
In a pilot study on regenerative medicine, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina grew vaginal organs for four teenaged girls missing a vagina or uterus, using their own cells. All the girls suffer from a rare condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome, in which the vagina is “underdeveloped or absent.” (The only good news about this syndrome? No uterus, no periods!)
Source: Live Science
According to Newsweek, in the past, doctors reconstructing the vag would use skin from the butt or intestines. This study, however, used cells directly from the girls’ external genitals (such as they were). They started with a biopsy “less than half the size of a postage” stamp and waited for the cells to bloom. Grafted onto biodegradable materials, the cells were then “hand-sewn into a vagina-like shape” — a comparison was made to a champagne flute — which was then sutured into whatever internal vaginal organs existed. Eventually, the biodegradable material used would be absorbed into the body and voila, a vagina is born!
The implantations occurred during 2005 and 2008 when all the subjects were teen girls. They all now report that they feel desire and can have sex without pain. Truly, these doctors are doing the Lord’s work.
Researcher Anthony Atala told the medical journal Lancet that the study proves that vaginas grown in a lab can be used in humans. In the future, this method could be useful for vaginal reconstructive surgeries. Good work, team!
[Newsweek] [International Business Times UK] [National Institutes of Health: Mayer-Rokiantsky-Kuster-Hauser Syndrome]Source:
