'Tears of joy': Woman's lost thumb replaced with second toe
A plastic surgeon has successfully replaced a patient's lost thumb with her second toe, moving her to tears of joy when she was able to wiggle it post-surgery.
In July, a plastic surgeon in Queensland performed the region's first toe-to-thumb transfer on an East Timorese migrant worker named Francisca Amaral, who had lost her thumb in a conveyor belt accident at a factory. Amaral, who had moved to the Sunshine Coast more than a decade ago to work for a produce factory, supports her family in East Timor.
The 40-year-old initially had a flap of skin from her forearm used as a cover but later underwent a complex 12-hour procedure to reconstruct a functional thumb using her second toe. The surgery involved transferring the patient's second toe, along with tendons, arteries, veins, and nerves, to her forearm and re-establishing her circulation by connecting the arteries and veins.
Dr. Chandan Jadhav, who performed the surgery, noted the importance of mental preparation for patients undergoing such a life-changing and psychologically traumatic procedure. Amaral, who will continue weekly hand therapy for six to 12 months, has already regained 80 per cent of her thumb's original function and expressed immense joy at the transformation.
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