14.12.2025 17:41
55-year-old Sayit Karataş, who severed his middle finger while building a chicken coop in Bulgaria, preserved the severed part in ice and managed to reach Turkey. In an operation performed in Bursa, the fingertip was reattached. The intervention, which took place 14 hours later, yielded positive results.
A 55-year-old man named Sayit Karataş, residing in Bulgaria, wanted to build a more secure cage for his beloved pigeons. He aimed to reinforce the coop with metal that could withstand strong winds or large animals. However, while placing the metal, Karataş accidentally crushed his finger, severing his middle finger at the nail line.
HE CAME TO BURSA FROM BULGARIA WITH HIS SEVERED FINGER IN A ICE BAG After the initial intervention, the hospitals he visited stated that the finger could not be reattached, but the tip could be closed with tissue grafting. Karataş tried to prevent infection and cell death by placing his severed finger in bags filled with ice.
Traveling 600 kilometers to Bursa, Karataş explained his experience with the doctor who reattached his finger: "While making a coop for my pigeons as a hobby, my finger got caught in the metal. We went to the hospital in our city for the first intervention. But we did not receive a positive response there. Then they said it could be done in Sofia. We reached the hospital there, and they also said that this part could not be reattached, but they could do it by taking tissue from around it. However, this did not sit well with us. Then, through acquaintances, we reached the doctor. He said he could try the same way. We took the risk and came to the hospital. While bringing the finger, we tried to maintain hygiene conditions. From the little first aid knowledge we had, we placed it in ice. We put it in a small bag and reached the hospital this way. While coming from Bulgaria to Bursa, we also kept it in an ice bag, in a separate container. It was a distance of 600 kilometers; when we saw that the ice in the bag had melted, we got ice from a nearby place. We tried to keep it cold constantly, and I think we succeeded," he said.
"WE BELIEVE HE WILL BE ABLE TO USE IT LIKE BEFORE" Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Specialist Op. Dr. Furkan Karabulut expressed his satisfaction with the outcome, stating, "First, we evaluated the viability of the severed part and whether the tissues were dead in the operating room, and we found that the severed part could be reattached, so we took our patient for surgery. Since 14-15 hours had passed since the incident, we explained to our patient that the chances of reattaching the severed finger were low and that the operation could fail. We wanted to give our patient a chance, and it has been about a week; we have been monitoring the circulation of the finger since we reattached the severed fingertip a week ago. Thanks to this operation, we believe that our patient will be able to use his finger both aesthetically and functionally like before. With this surgery, of course, in such operations, a finger can be severed, the fingertip can be severed, or the entire finger can be severed; we are racing against time. Time is very valuable for us. Despite the long time that has passed for this patient and considering the other challenging conditions of the surgery, we took all the risks and successfully reattached our patient's severed finger," he said.