Miraculous recovery of worker whose fingers were crushed by noodle slicer
An Indonesian man’s fingers have been shattered after his hand got stuck in a noodle machine when he tripped at work.
The unnamed man, in his 40s, managed to pull out his left hand, but it was too late to avoid mashing his middle, ring, and little fingers.
He went to a local clinic five days later to see a doctor about his injuries. Medics cleaned, sutured and bandaged his mangled fingers and advised him to go to the hospital for surgery.
But the patient did not go to the hospital until a “foul smell” emanated from his dressing. There, surgeons excised damaged tissue and rebuilt his fingers using a skin graft from his wrist.
Four months after the accident, the man’s hand was “completely healed,” with his finger length “well preserved,” no pain or numbness, full range of motion, and no symptoms of his body rejecting the skin graft.
A man in Indonesia’s fingers was crushed when his left hand went into a noodle machine after tripping at work (pictured are his fingers when he first visited the clinic)
The patient later had surgery to excise the infected tissue and a skin graft was taken from his wrist to rebuild his fingers (pictured four months after surgery)
A ‘full thickness skin graft was harvested’ from the patient’s wrist to be used to reconstruct his fingers (pictured is one week after surgery)
Medics report on the case in the British medical journal (BMJ) said the man’s injuries were a combination of “crushing and sharp cuts.”
No other details about his bloody accident have been revealed.
He went to a primary care clinic near his workplace, where his wound was cleaned. His fingers were sewn back together, wrapped in a tight bandage and attached to a splint – a supportive device to keep the fingers still and promote healing.
Doctors at the clinic told him that surgery would be necessary to fully restore his hand, but the man apparently hesitated.
Only after noticing a disgusting smell from the bandage did he go to the hospital. During an examination, doctors noticed that his fingers were not bleeding, but they were swollen and the skin on them was darker than on his unaffected hand.
Doctors X-rayed the man’s hand and discovered a fracture in his little finger.
His stitches were removed and a finger swab was taken to make sure it was not infected.
After the swab confirmed he had no infection, the man underwent surgery under general anesthesia to remove the damaged skin and areas of tissue, before a “full-thickness skin graft” was harvested from his wrist to reconstruct his fingers.
Surgeons attached the skin graft to the patient’s fingers – which were then covered with a bandage.
He was released from the hospital the next day and seen for a check-up three days later. The dressing was changed every three days until the 14th postoperative day.
Physicians wrote in the case report that the skin grafts in the first and second weeks turned purple and “gradually turned pinkish” before fully healing.