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Czech woman loses her skin, eyebrows and eyelids after getting hair caught in electric drill

Petra Novotna, 27, was 'scalped' by the electric drill when her hair got stuck in its spinning device. (CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT)

On the mend: Petra Novotna after her horrific accident. (CEN)
On the mend: Petra Novotna after her horrific accident. (CEN)


A Czech woman had her skin, eyebrows and eyelids ripped away when her hair got tangled in an electric drill.

Petra Novotna, 27, had been using the power tool with her hair in a ponytail, when some loose strands became wrapped in the spinning device.

Within seconds, the drill sucked up the rest of her hair around the drill bit, jerking her head forward and tearing skin from her head in a straight line from her eyes round to the back of her head.

Mother-of-four Petra was rushed to hospital after the horrifying moment when she saw her scalp ‘lying next to me instead’.

The drill ripped off Petra's skin from her eyes to the back of her head. (CEN)
The drill ripped off Petra's skin from her eyes to the back of her head. (CEN)


She was in a serious condition when she was delivered to surgeons at the clinic of plastic surgery at the University Hospital of Vinohrady in the Czech Republic capital Prague.

The horrific accident had left almost half her skull exposed, while surgeons later found her scalp was impossible to reattach.

 

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Instead, they used skin from her arms and legs to rebuild her face in a nine-hour operation.

Petra, from Tremosna, Czech Republic, said: ‘I had my hair in a ponytail. My hair wrapped round the working electric drill and was pulled out.'

Petra in hospital in Prague immediately after the accident. (CEN)
Petra in hospital in Prague immediately after the accident. (CEN)


Petra says she remembers the whole horrendous accident unfolding. (CEN)
Petra says she remembers the whole horrendous accident unfolding. (CEN)


'I remember everything. I went to run and then I saw my scalp was no longer attached to me, it was lying next to me instead.'

The head of the clinic and Petra’s doctor Andrej Sukop said: 'We took an 8 to 10 centimetres long vascular graft from the patient’s arms and legs and we put them on her face.'

Petra says she is happy that the after-effects will not be so dramatic. Now, a few weeks after the horrible accident, she can already smile again and is looking forward to going back home.

Doctor Sukop is also pleased with the results of the complicated nine-hour long operation. He said: 'We are very happy, and in fact the operation was such a success that we have already had several enquiries from other hospitals who want more details on exactly what we did.'