Can fingers be reattached?

[Travis Conner]

Did some research on what to do if you end up losing a finger. Sounds like when the body part is contaminated it can't be re attached. I wonder if saw dust counts as contamination.

[Ole Anderson]

Did some research on what to do if you end up losing a finger. Sounds like when the body part is contaminated it can't be re attached. I wonder if saw dust counts as contamination. Asking for a friend?

[Frank Pratt]

They reattach severed digits all the time, so they must have a way to clean up the old part before reinstalling it. Probably an automotive parts washer or maybe a sandblaster.:rolleyes:

[Ron Selzer]

Have read articles in the past that state only for non smokers. Smokers the blood circulation is bad enough that gangrene sets in an they lose the fingers.

[mike stenson]

It'll also depend on the nature of the injury. Fingers that are crushed off, for instance, are gone.

[Travis Conner]

They reattach severed digits all the time, so they must have a way to clean up the old part before reinstalling it. Probably an automotive parts washer or maybe a sandblaster.:rolleyes:

I knew they had a secret up their sleeve.

[Andy D Jones]

Generally, fingers lost to a jointer cannot be reattached...

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Richard Coers]

I sawed 3/4 of the way through my middle finger on my left hand. The emergency surgeon just toe-nailed it back on with some stainless steel pins. and sewed me up. Went in for the first week followup. He looked at it and said something about it being crooked and reached over and bent it straight. I nearly passed out, 2nd week followup, he did the same damned thing. After I felt good enough to walk, i told my wife to take me straight to our family doctor. I told him to refer me to an GOOD hand surgeon. The second surgery was to square off the bone and get rid of that 1/8" kerf in the bone. I woke up from surgery with a half cast on my arm and a splint running up under the finger to immobilize it. That was in 1984. I did loose a joint and that finger is about 1/4" shorter than what I started with, but it has stopped predicting weather and being sensitive to cold. So not a complete amputation, but awfully darned close.

[Brad Shipton]

I think is one of those questions where the answer is, It depends. Sometimes yes, others, no. Best have some good rules around the big machines.

[Joe Jensen]

Yes, a friend cut 3 fingers off like 40 years ago when he was 14. They reattached them and he went on to play div 2 college basketball. They don't have perfect function but you would not know it by observing him live his life.

[richard poitras]

Instead of if reading up on if it can be attached why not read up on shop safety and how to prevent injury’s ... ?

[Robert Hayward]

I am living proof a finger, thumb in my case, can be reattached. At 14 years old a kickback using a dull wobble dado blade pulled my right hand into the blade. Took off my right thumb at the point it meets the hand. All but the skin on the back of the hand. Small town in Michigan with a really small hospital and a doctor that spent several years on a hospital ship in the pacific during WW2. He had experience doing this sort of repair. I lost movement of the upper knuckle but I have lived my life with both thumbs. Also gained a lot of knowledge about kickbacks and how to avoid them.

[Bill Dufour]

Do the reasearch before hand. Ask the family doctor where he would go for a finger reattchment. what hospital and which doctor. Do not pack in ice. it will get frostbite. for lost teeth milk is reccomended since it is cold and sterile. I assume milk would be good for a lost finger as well. Best is to drop it into sealed carton. Do not add salt! If it a long trip pack the milk in ice on the outside. Do not let the liquid freeze and cause frostbite.
Also ask about slivers in the eye best doctors etc. Same for hair being ripped off or foot/ toes crushed
Bill D.

[johnny means]

I can't count on all my fingers and toes the number of guys I know who have had fingers pulled out of sawdust and reattached. It's almost as if it's a prerequisite to shop management positions.

[mike stenson]

I can't count on all my fingers and toes the number of guys I know who have had fingers pulled out of sawdust and reattached. It's almost as if it's a prerequisite to shop management positions.

Ok, that made me sort of laugh... Add to that the number of people I know who have fingers that are 1/8" narrower than they were once.

[Andrew Hughes]

I’ve heard it cost about 10 thousand dollars to re attach a finger or a phalange. I would throw in the trash and get back to work. I can get plenty done with 8 or 9 phalanges. ;)

[Wes Grass]

We had a guy lose all 4 at the base in a press. Crushed, absolutely. Foreman had to scrape bone fragments off the tool before starting the job up again. One of those days I was glad to be bitched out for coming in late.

I think they managed to reattach all, but ultimately only 2 or 3 took.

[roger wiegand]

Put it in a baggie with ice and take it to the ER with you (not kidding). If they don't have it there's no chance. I've heard of multiple incidences of successful reattachments after several hours if the digit is kept cold. If you have a choice go for a clean cut rather than a crush.

[Steve Demuth]

Did some research on what to do if you end up losing a finger. Sounds like when the body part is contaminated it can't be re attached. I wonder if saw dust counts as contamination.

If it's reasonably cleanly severed, contamination won't typically prevent reattachment. Mangling the digit will - so crush injuries, e.g., or any sort of tool like a jointer that makes hamburger out of your digit, will end your chances to play piano again. I've got a hand surgeon friend at work who has done dozens at least of digit reattachments. Sawdust wouldn't have phased him. Sawdust is pretty clean stuff. He's reattached fingers rescued from the dung channel of a dairy barn.

The key if you are unfortunate enough to have to deal with this is to get the severed member in a bag and cool (on ice, not in water and definitely not frozen) and then get the hell to an ER and demand a fully board certified hand surgeon as quickly as is safely possible.

And, if you're a smoker, you either have officially kicked the nicotine habit at that point, cold turkey, or you won't get your digit reattached. If you backslide, the finger is dead meat, literally. I know of one patient who had three fingers successfully reattached after a circular saw screw-up, and four days into his recovery snuck out for a cigarette. His fingers were dead the next morning, and had to be removed. Nicotine is a very aggressive vasoconstrictor, and will completely cut off circulation to the recovering reattached digit.

[Mark Bolton]

I think is one of those questions where the answer is, It depends. Sometimes yes, others, no. Best have some good rules around the big machines.

Sounds the most accurate to me. Was at a shop a while back where kid (was pretty much shop foreman) late evening, blasting out some last minute small parts (recipe for disaster) on a big TS blew off index, middle, and ring, in one fell swoop. As I recall one landed on the saw table, another was found a ways behind the saw, and another a bit infront of the saw. When I was there he held up the hand sans the three fingers. They had been packed in ice and were reattached but three weeks later all turned black and had to be taken back off and now its thumb and pinky only.

Having been in this business pretty much most of my adult life and full time shop for long, I pretty much turned white and almost fainted just hearing the story, not so much for him or myself but for the shop owner.

[Alan Lightstone]

The longest case I ever did was a 9 digit replantation. Took 32 hours. Became like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. When the surgeon was done with the 9th, he'd go back to the first and have to revise things.

Not sure how many successfully took, much less sensation and motor function returning.

30 something years later, still never had an operation go longer than that one.

And yes, I have seen multiple digits reattached, and multiple ones unable to be reattached. The answer, as said above, it that it depends.

[Mark Hennebury]

Many years back I did some woodwork on the local hand surgeons yacht' he told me that he likes woodworkers, said that we pay the mortgage on his house and the payments on his boat. The first day that I went to the yacht club to see his boat, was the day after he had pulled an all-nighter re-attaching some guys severed hand. He received a big round of applause when we walked into the clubhouse.

[johnny means]

I worked with a guy who lost a thumb to a tablesaw. It was reattached and had full function. Soon after, he lost the other thumb to the same saw. This time out was too mangled for reattaching. He ended up getting his big toe transplant in order to replace that thumb. I like to joke About how he lose two thumbs and a big toe to the same machine. He ended up going into physical therapy after spending g sip much time there.

[Brian Elfert]

The longest case I ever did was a 9 digit replantation. Took 32 hours. Became like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. When the surgeon was done with the 9th, he'd go back to the first and have to revise things.


How the heck does a surgeon manage to still be awake after 32 hours in an operating room? I would think that a hand surgeon needs to be fairly precise which becomes hard after being awake for more than a day straight.

[Bill Dufour]

I have heard that one trick to keep the blood flowing is to attach leaches to the fingertip to suck out the backed up blood. This relieves the back pressure and allows a better flow of fresh oxygenated blood into the extremities. Maggots are also used since they will eat only rotting flesh and not good meat with adequate blood flow.
Bill D

[Alan Lightstone]

How about me (the anesthesiologist) staying awake?

The running joke was that an endotracheal tube is a piece of plastic with someone half awake on both ends,

[Scott Winners]

Something about an ounce of prevention....

I heard a story once about a guy who lost a finger to a saw - and his dog ate the severed digit. So the guy shot his dog, recovered the now acid washed part and was told at the ER because of the dog's stomach acid the digit could not be reattached. So he lost a finger and a dog same day. Dunno if it is true or not, sounds like a good reason to invest in a poundof prevention.

[Jim Koepke]

Did some research on what to do if you end up losing a finger. Sounds like when the body part is contaminated it can't be re attached. I wonder if saw dust counts as contamination.

If you aren't too squeamish, look up the story of John Wayne Bobbitt.

That should answer your question about being contaminated with sawdust.

jtk

[Mark Hennebury]

I know of maybe five or six people that lost fingers in the workshop, don't know any that had them re-attached.

[Travis Conner]

It's nice to know what to do if it happens, things still can go wrong no matter how many safety books you read. Nobody wakes up and says i'm going to cut my finger off today.

[Warren Lake]

Old guy said dont go behind the blade you can get sucked back in. Then showed me his finger to show he didnt listen. Just a kid at the time. Didnt matter much fingers like sausages and full strength still. Knew an old british cabinet maker and he had cut fingers a few times and re attached. They were crooked and he said not that great but there still. Im pretty sure he said he cut one off on the stroke sander, reaching for something hit the edge of the belt and poof. I know ive hit it just barely and out fast and its surprising what it can do.

Friend lost three fingers to the first digits on one hand on the jointer, I was shocked, he said when he plays the piano he plays minor chords. He has never complained and is an outstanding craftsman in a number of crafts. Lady next door her friend lost his thumb on a table saw, weekend warrior knew nothing, not the way to learn. She called him Tom Thumbless from then on. Been bitten once lengthways on the whole nail and bit of the finger and it grew back. sensitive for a number of years then perfect.

So Bobbit wasnt a smoker.

If Cheech or Chong cut a finger off would there be any issues in re attaching cause of their hobby?

[Mark Hennebury]

I have worked long shifts in the workshop alone using machinery, The longest was 44 hours without sleep, I started at 8:00 am Saturday and finished at 4;00 am Monday, slept in the shop for 4 hours, then i had to get the stuff to the engravers, then pick it up later in the day, clean, polish, pack and drop it at the couriers to ship it.

I had hundreds of small parts to make and then finish them up on the router table; by the time i got to the routerwork i was nodding off while running parts past the router cutter, literally every couple of seconds i would just stop moving then start again. Lucky didn't lose any fingers, but it would have been hard to do as i was only using a roundover bit at the end of the job; I could have taken a good chunk out of a finger or two i guess.
I think that it took me a week to get back to normal after that, it really messes you up.

Luckily i was only working on wooden stuff, of no consequence if you mess a few up. Surgery is quite a different ballgame.


How the heck does a surgeon manage to still be awake after 32 hours in an operating room? I would think that a hand surgeon needs to be fairly precise which becomes hard after being awake for more than a day straight.

[Kev Williams]

Lost finger stories, I got a few--


Generally, fingers lost to a jointer cannot be reattached...

-- Andy - Arlington TX

My dad's left birdie finger went into a jointer to the first joint. He always joked about it being hard to sew hamburger back on...

Way back, 40 years now, my friend who was living with me at the time worked at a paper bag mfr, ran a huge 6-color press that printed 50# Purina Dog Chow bags. One day his co-worker, in a hurry to leave, decided it would be okay to just wash down the rollers while it was running rather than jog the rollers. He was using a basic red shop rag, which he'd wrapped around his first 2 fingers. The rollers sucked the rag out of his hand. He said some swear words and proceeded to shut down the machine-- which is when he figured out he had no fingers with which to push the OFF button! His fingers and the rag ended up in the green inkwell, my friend retrieved them and off to the hospital they went, doctors were ready and waiting to sew them back on. Sadly, the ink-soaked fingers went straight to into the trash can.

My uncle (dad's brother) took off his middle finger on a table saw (how only the middle finger?), about 20 years later he Skil-sawed the tip of his left thumb off...

Back when I was in high school a kid who lived just around the corner sawed off his first 2 fingers on one of the school's table saws, a few weeks later his younger brother blew the tip of is right pinky finger off with a .22 rifle, had his hand around the barrel while killing a bug or something...

One of my wife's ex's table sawed a finger off, they sewed it back on-

Worst finger mishap was my 2nd cousin, a meat cutter-- pushing a side of pig thru a toothless bandsaw, hit a bone the wrong way... blade was against his left forefinger and went beyond his thumb almost to his watchband, the blade never left his hand... he was in a cast to his shoulder for 8 weeks, his thumb is partly held together with screws but it came out okay- that was in 1981 and he's still cuttin' meat!

[Steve Demuth]

Lost finger stories, I got a few--



My dad's left birdie finger went into a jointer to the first joint. He always joked about it being hard to sew hamburger back on...

I lost count after a while of the number of ways my old man lost pieces of his fingers. First was trying to get a combine elevator that had been plugged moving again by grabbing the v-belt and pulling. It moved. Fingers went down and started 'round the lower sheave, but didn't come back up the other side. Hay baler knotter got a piece of one too. He had a way of sticking body parts into farm machinery - I lived in terror when I was a kid and the baler plugged and he would lean into the pickup with his foot to get it moving - I had visions of him coming out in slices in a bale, but fortunately he got by with that maneuver every time he tried it. I know there were some table saw and router "removals" in later years after he quit farming and spent a lot of time in the shop. Worst one though was when an old sow whose nose he was trying to ring bit off a chuck of a pinky. He said it hurt to watch her finish chewing and swallow it.

He died last year at 97, so I guess he got through it all, and I guess too, I can tell his stories as history, without offending anyone.

[Michael Weber]

Something about an ounce of prevention....

I heard a story once about a guy who lost a finger to a saw - and his dog ate the severed digit. So the guy shot his dog, recovered the now acid washed part and was told at the ER because of the dog's stomach acid the digit could not be reattached. So he lost a finger and a dog same day. Dunno if it is true or not, sounds like a good reason to invest in a poundof prevention.
My sister lost two fingers trying to break up a fight between her dog and another that was going on through gap in a fence. She never saw them again and assumes one or the other dog swallowed them. She wasn’t too upset since the doctor assured her it would not affect her golf game. :rolleyes:

[lowell holmes]

I cut my thumb pushing a board while ripping. I wrapped with a towel and drove myself to the emergency room. They patched me up, but that thumb still tingles a bit.

I now have a push stick hanging on the saw table and I never get close to a saw blade. You can make a nice push stick using a 1x4 or 1/2" plywood.

[Fred Perreault]

....don't ask me how I know that...... :mad:

[Kevin Groenke]

I can't count on all my fingers and toes the number of guys I know who have had fingers pulled out of sawdust and reattached. It's almost as if it's a prerequisite to shop management positions.

I had a finger and thumb reattached after an accident in an on-campus job. I was unsupervised and wasn't properly trained to use a tablesaw that had no guard and a rip fence that didn't lock. I went on to run a shop in the building next door for 25 years. We never had an amputation.

[Travis Conner]

Asking for a friend?

I'd be asking the doctor if it was me. Lol along with a quick trip through the drive thru for a cup of ice and lots of napkins. Lol

[Travis Conner]

Yeah i'm pretty paranoid about getting my fingers close to the table saw blade. 12" is about as close as I like to get. One thing about cut fingers is it hurts. Had a mishap with the bandsaw one time when I turned the saw on without tensioning the blade and it came out of the slot next to the on/off switch just enough to graze my index finger. Boy did that hurt and it took probably 6 months for it to heal since I always use my hands. Needless to say I don't really care to de tension the blade anymore to save the tires. I'll buy new ones every few years, they're easy as pie to put on anyways.