'Tears of Joy': Woman’s Lost Thumb Replaced With Her Second Toe

Francisca Amaral feared the loss of her thumb would change her life forever. The 40-year-old East Timorese immigrant lost it in a conveyor-belt accident at a Queensland produce factory, far from the family she supports in East Timor.

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very sad

Eight months later, plastic surgeon Chandan Jadhav gave her a new reason for hope. On July 16, at Sunshine Coast University Private Hospital, he performed the region’s first toe-to-thumb transfer. The 12-hour operation moved Amaral’s second toe to reconstruct a functional thumb.

The medical team waited six months after the accident before carrying out the transplant. Jadhav said patients need three to six months to mentally prepare for an operation that brings profound loss and psychological trauma. He chose the second toe because it resembles a thumb and most people can still walk well without it.

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very scary

The team transferred the entire toe, including the tendons, arteries, veins, nerves and bone. Surgeons secured it with plates and screws, connected the foot tendons to those in the forearm, and restored circulation by joining the arteries and veins. They performed the work under an operating microscope magnified 12.5 times, joining blood vessels less than a millimetre thick.

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It's devastating, it's life-changing

The procedure carried serious risks. If it failed, Amaral could lose the toe as well as the reconstructed thumb. But it worked, and she can now grip objects again. When she woke from surgery, she was in considerable pain, but she was also “very happy” and said her doctors gave her “a lot of hope and support.”

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very happy