An orthopaedic surgeon from New Orleans has began sharing his outrageous operations on social media – and his followers are hooked.
Though most of Dr Nick Pappas’ hand surgical procedures solely final about half-hour, the reminiscences of what he’s seen – every part from catfish spines, additional fingers and rings the pores and skin has grown over – final a lifetime.
“I had one guy with a snake bite, with a snake bite, which can make the whole hand swell up like a balloon,” the 43-year-old informed SWNS, as reported by the New York Post.
“He’d killed the snake after it attacked him, and all the nurses were freaking out because the guy had a snake bite, the container – and the dead snake, which he’d brought with him.”
Dr Pappas stated he as soon as pulled sea urchin spines from a affected person’s hand after the particular person fell onto one of many creatures, embedding the spines so far as the bone.
He additionally reported eradicating gangrene-infected fingers, BB gun pellets and electrical wire.
He did say he’s a bit screwed when somebody wants assist with a screw of their hand, as a result of he has to comply with a particular protocol earlier than he may even try to dig it out.
“If it’s a screw, I have to find where it entered and find the brand of screw and try different screwdrivers to remove it,” Dr Pappas defined.
“It might be that the head of the screw is damaged, or the screw is stuck to the bone, and I have to chisel it out of the hand instead. You need the right imaging and the right instruments. It can be challenging, and it’s not always straightforward.”
But on the subject of gunshots, Dr Pappas stated, more often than not it’s higher to depart the bullets alone or observe them over time – except they’re protruding of the pores and skin, or it’s a full bullet.
“In general, surgeons don’t remove bullets from the extremities unless they are causing pain, are very superficial, are in a joint, or are pushing on a neurovascular structure,” he stated.
“Sometimes it can be more harmful to try to take it out than to just leave it in, as long as it’s not causing any issues.”
When he’s not shortly eradicating wacky gadgets from appendages, Dr Pappas turns his consideration to finger amputations and reattachments, which he stated will be “challenging” and time-consuming.
“I did one where I replaced someone’s thumb with their big toe. It took 12 hours and can be very tricky because the size doesn’t always match up,” he stated.
“If you mess it up, and the blood vessels don’t work properly, then it can lead to a bad outcome. Thankfully, this one was successful.”
And it is by no means a uninteresting day on the workplace.
“I also had one that was done from a Samurai sword that took off three of his fingers, and it took 10 hours to reattach all the nerves, the tendons and the bones,” he stated.
This article initially appeared within the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
