News Articles
Toe-Hold On A New Life
Rare Surgery Replaces Injured Thumb With Man’s Big Toe
December 15, 1995 – Spokesman-Review
A plastic surgeon took medical technology in Spokane a step forward when he replaced a man’s severed thumb with his big toe.
It took three doctors, eight hours, and a patient who finally stopped laughing long enough to agree to the unusual procedure.
When James Bennett left the operating room, his swollen big toe perched next to the fingers on his right hand.
“I thought it was funny, putting your toe up where your thumb should be,” said Bennett, a drill operator who still chuckles when he looks at his bandaged new thumb.
Rare Surgery Restores Scalp
Skin, hair torn off vineyard manager in freak agricultural machinery accident
June 12. 1990 – by Larry Maatz of The Examiner Staff – San Francisco Examiner
In an extraordinarily rare and delicate operation, the scalp of a 33-year-old woman has been surgically reattached after it was torn from her head in a freak agricultural accident. Doctors say the woman, now recovering at San Francisco’s Davies Medical Center, is expected to show little if any outward evidence of her ordeal.
The 14-hour operation, a complete scalp and forehead replantation, has been performed only six times before, say hospital officials. The patient, a Northern California vineyard manager, was not identified.
“It was close to the wire” said Dr. Alfonso Oliva, who headed the team of five surgeons at the operating table. “The scalp had been completely torn off, from the eyelids to the nape of the neck.
