Incredibly awesome surgery skills going to work here! This man lost his thumb and was able to have doctors use his big toe replace it. I mean, they do look a lot alike to begin with so that’s a plus. I wish this man good luck and a speedy recovery!
BBC News writes:
James Byrne, 29, from Fishponds severed the thumb on his left hand last December while sawing through wood. After an attempt to re-attach his damaged thumb failed, plastic surgeons at Frenchay Hospital transplanted his left big toe to his hand.
Surgeon Umraz Khan said: “The loss of the toe is not as disabling as losing a thumb, so the loss outweighs the gain.”
Mr Byrne said: “Mr Khan re-attached my thumb but it had been badly damaged and although we tried everything, including leeches, to get the blood flowing again it didn’t take.
“Mr Khan said to me ‘You will have a thumb even if I have to take your toe’. I thought he was joking, but he was serious and nine months later here it is. The aesthetics of it don’t bother me, “I am just happy that it works, my work as a paver would have been destroyed without the use of my hand because I couldn’t pick up a brick without a thumb but now I hope I can be back at work in a few months.”
Read more at bbc.co.uk