Title : Cornish surfer, 43, needed a FACELIFT after awful wipeout
link : Cornish surfer, 43, needed a FACELIFT after awful wipeout
Cornish surfer, 43, needed a FACELIFT after awful wipeout
Surfer, 43, suffers world's worst faceplant in wipeout so bad he needed a facelift to rebuild his features
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
- Steve Bowens was wiped out by a 3ft swell in Portreath, Cornwall, in February
- Broke his nose, both eye sockets and right cheek and forced air around brain
- Doctors spent nine hours rebuilding face and suspending eye on titanium mesh
- Now hopes to educate other surfers on how to help each other in these scenarios
A surfer needed a facelift to completely rebuild his features after he suffered the world's worst faceplant.
Steve Bowens, 43, had been using a stand-up paddle board in Portreath, Cornwall, when a 3ft swell wiped him out.
With blood pouring from his face, he was helped to the shore and taken to hospital - where he underwent major reconstruction surgery.
Two facial surgeons spent nine hours working on him, during which time he was cut from ear to ear and his face peeled forward allowing the perforation to be patched with muscle.
His cheek also had to be rebuilt and his eye suspended on titanium mesh. Mr Bowens, a sports scientist, has said he is now on the road to recovery - and he's to use his experience to help others.
Steve Bowens, 43, had to have a facelift to rebuild his features after he suffered the world's worst faceplant while surfing in Portreath, Cornwall
The sports scientist, pictured surfing in the past, was paddle boarding when a 3ft swell knocked him over and his board hit him square in the face
A fellow surfer helped him to shore where his doctor wife Sally, pictured together before the accident, took him to hospital
Recalling the accident in February, he said: 'As the wave came to the end it sectioned. I bottom turned but misjudged it and took a tumble.
'The wave was not big, about 3ft. However I landed in the wrong place at the wrong time and the board hit me square in the face, right between the eyes.
'The sensation was as if someone hit me with a baseball bat. It was violent and as I came to the surface I knew that I was likely to pass out.'
Mr Bowens, who is a member of Portreath Surf Lifesaving Club, added: 'This would have been very bad indeed. I was still 150 metres from the shore and I was not sure if anyone had seen me on the wave, let alone being hit by my board.
'As soon as I surfaced I climbed back on, thinking that at least if I passed out I would have some chance of keeping my airway out of the water until the next wave.
'Looking down at the board it was like someone was pouring red paint from a bucket onto the deck.
'I had never seen so much blood before. I then started shouting, I didn't care who saw me, only that someone would see where I was and that I needed help.'
A concerned surfer paddled over to Mr Bowens and asked if he needed help.
He added: 'I told him I needed to get back to the beach, but he seemed unsure of how to help. Fortunately the next wave caught me and I managed to prone surf back to the shore.'
Two facial surgeons spent nine hours working on him, during which time he was cut from ear to ear and his face peeled forward allowing the perforation to be patched with muscle
Speaking of his accident in February, Mr Bowens said: 'Looking down at the board it was like someone was pouring red paint from a bucket onto the deck. I had never seen so much blood before'
On reaching the beach Steve struggled to stand and was helped to the car park, where his wife Sally, a doctor, was called to take him to A&E.
He added: 'The shock of the accident started to set in. I sat there, shivering, with blood still pouring from my face. The pain was fairly intense and I just wanted to be anywhere apart from sat there.'
He had received a deep laceration to his forehead, nose and cheek. Mr Bowens had also broken his nose, both eye sockets, right cheek and 'everything had been pushed in a bit'.
He said: 'As the impact had imploded the bones which make up the sinuses, this had forced air around my brain, and created a hole from my skull to the outside world through which cerebral spinal fluid now flowed.'
Mr Bowens praised the treatment he received and said he was 'completely blown away by the professionalism, kindness and care' of the NHS.
And he said that despite his injuries he was desperate to get back in the water.
Despite his horrendous injuries, Mr Bowens is still desperate to get back into the water - and hopes to use his experience to help others
He hopes to train surfers how to deal with accidents like his and is currently in discussions with Surf Lifesaving UK, the RNLI and the Scottish Surfing Federation to set up a new project
He now wants his terrible experience to act as a warning to other surfers, who may not be up to speed with how to help themselves or others if facing a similar scenario.
He added: 'There were lots of other surfers around, and some of them clearly wanted to help but seemed to lack the specific skills or confidence to know how best to do this.
'If I had passed out in the water, I think they would have really struggled to get me back to the beach.'
He hopes to train surfers how to deal with accidents like his and is currently in discussions with Surf Lifesaving UK, the RNLI and the Scottish Surfing Federation to set up a project which he hopes will provide very basic training for 'surfers to help surfers'.
The plan is to refine a syllabus which would include aspects such as how to get a surfer back to the shore using their or another surfer's board, how to get help, simple first aid, CPR and recovery position details.
Mr Bowens added: 'This is very much in its developmental stage but I am hopeful that the surf lifesaving clubs up and down our coast might be able to help too.
'I am looking to find volunteers to deliver this training and perhaps some sponsorship to help promote it.'
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