Surgeons replace cattleman’s severed thumb with his big toe
A MAN who lost a thumb in an accident at work has had one of his big toes surgically removed and transplanted on to his hand.
Zac Mitchell, 20, was working on a remote cattle station in Western Australia in April when his hand was kicked by a bull and jammed against a fence, slicing off his right thumb.
In a graphic TV interview, the cattleman said: “My thumb was still hanging on the rail when I got up off the ground.
“My boss looked down and saw the blood and asked me what was bleeding. I had a look at my hand and figured it out pretty quick.”
With the nearest hospital five hours away, Zac’s thumb was put on ice until he could receive treatment, but attempts to reattach it were unsuccessful. He was Zac Mitchell recovering in hospital after his transplant operation. Doctors say it will take a year for him to develop feeling in his new thumb transferred to Sydney Hospital’s specialist hand unit, where surgeons twice failed to sew it back.
He was then told that the best option was a radical form of surgery which would involve cutting off his big toe and having it transplanted. He eventually agreed and after an eight-hour procedure now hopes to return to work as a cattle ringer and bull rider.
Zac said the loss of his toe has not affected his ability to walk. “I haven’t fallen over anyway. I don’t think it’s had much of an effect on my balance.”
Surgeon Sean Nicklin, who carried out the operation, said yesterday: “To recreate a thumb you can just use skin and bone, but that doesn’t work so well, so really the toe is just the best option by far – when it works well.”
Mr Nicklin said he carries out operations using skin grafts from the toe to reconstruct fingers or thumbs every couple of years, but to remove and transplant the entire toe was “pretty unusual”.
The benefits of recreating a new thumb outweigh the downside of losing the toe, he said.
Zac will receive physiotherapy and is expected to have feeling in his new thumb after about a year, Mr Nicklin said, adding the procedure had a success rate of more than 95 per cent.
The loss of a big toe means that “fine balance” activities such as surfing might be difficult, but most people function well enough in everyday tasks.