Australian man gets his toe surgically removed to replace severed thumb!

(Representational image)

New Delhi: After getting his thumb severed in a tragic accident, an Australian man had his big toe surgically removed and attached to his hand replacing his thumb.

A cattle worker by profession, Zac Mitchell got injured while working on a remote farming property in Western Australia.

"A bull kicked my hand into the fence," Mitchell said.

In an attempt to save the thumb, Mitchell's co-workers tried to preserve it by putting it inside a cooler with some ice, but unfortunately failed to do so.

The 20-year-old had to go through two operations which were unsuccessful in re-attaching his thumb, before doctors from Sydney Eye Hospital in Australia opted to relocate his big toe in surgery which lasted eight hours, 'BBC News' reported.

Mitchell was initially reluctant towards the transplant, but later decided to go for it.

"It is a bit of a crazy idea - the patients do not want to be injured in another part of their body," said Sean Nicklin, lead plastic surgeon at Sydney Eye Hospital.

"However, even if you have got four good fingers, if you do not have something to pinch against them, your hand has lost a huge amount of its function," Nicklin said.

It is rare to transplant a complete toe, like in Mitchell's case, although partial toe relocations were more common, the hospital said.

"A lot of people think their balance and walking is going to be significantly affected which it generally is not," Nicklin said.

(With PTI inputs)