Horrific X-Ray Shows How Farmer Sliced Into His Own Face With Chainsaw

A farmer who sliced his own face open with a chainsaw by accident then wrapped himself in bandages and drove himself to hospital.

Bill Singleton, 68, from Victoria, Australia, was working on his farm when he lost control of the device, cutting into his own face.

He crawled 50m to his car and tied his head up before driving himself to the nearest hospital, as he was unable to call an ambulance because he had sliced his tongue in half.

When he arrived at Beaufort Hospital, 25km away, he collapsed in the car park and had to force himself to get back on his feet.

“I was two thirds of the way there and things started to spin, the lights went dark,” he told The Herald Sun.

“I dropped to my knees and was on all fours.”

He was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital for treatment. Doctors there discovered that he had cut through his face as far back as his wisdom teeth, stopping one centimetre short of his carotid artery and larynx.

The wound from the chainsaw was very nearly fatal (Getty Images)

Doctors said he would probably have died had he cut any deeper into his face.

In an X-ray of his injuries, a large gap can be seen in his skull and there are holes where some of his teeth used to be.

Professor Alf Nastri, who led the surgery team at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, told The Herald Sun: “If he got that carotid artery in the paddock, the freeway of the arteries, he’d probably be dead.

“When a chainsaw grabs, it grabs and goes deeper. It was not dissimilar to treating a gunshot wound.”

Surgeons clamped the arteries in his neck that had been severed and made an emergency incision in Mr Singleton’s windpipe. His jaw was secured with a metal plate and screws.

Since the accident on May 6, Mr Singleton has returned home to recover.

But he said it hasn’t put him off using a chainsaw in the future.

“You fall off a bike and get back on, don’t you?” he said.

“You’d drive a car after an accident.

“I feel very lucky, but I’ve never been one to sit around.”

(Picture: Royal Melbourne Hospital)