Sheer force of attack complicates recovery
Sydney plastic surgeon Kevin Ho has a fair idea of what lies ahead for Sean Pollard, having faced the daunting task of operating on two victims of shark attacks five years ago.
He said the next few days would be telling as Mr Pollard's body settled down from the trauma of the attack, including the sheer force of it.
"People often think being bitten by a shark is about a clean cut, but when you speak to the victims they don't so much talk about the pain as the sheer force of the shark," he said. "They feel like they have been hit by a truck, or a big blunt object.
"The forces that go through the body include a tearing force and a blunt trauma because of the speed and impact of the attack.
"And the zone of the injury is not just where the cut is, or where the hand or arm has been cut off, it extends up and down that limb."
He said recovery depended not just on injury to the major blood vessels but also to the fine capillaries that could get shattered.
Dr Ho treated 33-year-old surfer Glenn Orgias after he was mauled at Bondi in 2009 by a 2.5m great white shark.
He later lost a hand despite attempts to reattach it surgically.
In the same fortnight, Dr Ho operated on navy diver Paul de Gelder, who was attacked in Sydney Harbour by a bull shark that bit off his arm and leg.
Both men ended up with prosthetics.
Dr Ho said the technology was so incredible people were now able to get almost fully articulated hands where all the fingers could move independently.
Mr de Gelder was even able to hold and shake a can of soft drink with his prosthetic hand.
