Miracle recovery of worker whose fingers were crushed by a noodle-cutting machine

An Indonesian man’s fingers were crushed after getting his hand stuck in a noodle machine when he tripped at work.

The unnamed man, in his 40s, managed to pull his left hand out, but it was too late to save his middle, ring and little fingers from being mashed.

He went to a local clinic to see a doctor about his injuries. Medics cleaned, stitched and bandaged his mangled fingers. 

The patient waited five days before going to hospital, where surgeons cut away damaged tissue and rebuilt his fingers using a skin graft taken from his wrist.

Four months after the accident the man’s hand had ‘healed completely’, with his finger-length ‘well-preserved’, no pain or numbness, full range of motion and no symptoms of his body rejecting the skin graft.

The patient later received surgery to cut away the infected tissue and a skin graft was taken from his wrist to rebuild his fingers (Pictured is four months after the 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 the surgery)

Medics reporting on the case in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said the man’s injuries were a combination of ‘crush and sharp laceration’.

He went to a primary care clinic near his workplace, where his wound was cleaned. His fingers were stitched back together, wrapped in a tight dressing and attached to a splint — a supportive device to keep the fingers still and promote healing.

Doctors at the clinic advised him that surgery would be needed to fully repair his hand but the man was apparently hesitant. 

It was only after noticing a disgusting smell coming from the dressing that he went to hospital. During an examination, medics noted that his fingers were not bleeding but they were swollen and the skin on them 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 swab was taken of the finger tissue to check it wasn’t infected. 

After the swab confirmed that he did not have an infection, the man underwent surgery under general anaesthetic to remove the damaged skin and tissue areas, before a ‘full-thickness skin graft was harvested’ from his wrist to be used to reconstruct his fingers.

Surgeons attached the skin graft to the patient’s fingers – which were then covered in a dressing. 

He was discharged from hospital the following day and seen for a check-up appoint three days later. The dressing was changed every three days until the 14th day post-operation.

Medics wrote in the case report that the skin grafts were purple in the first and second week and ‘gradually became pinkish’ before healing completely.