Woman scalped in drill accident regrows hair

A Czech woman whose scalp was severed from her head after her ponytail got caught in an electric drill said her hair is finally starting to grow back two months later, Central European News (CEN) reported.

Petra Vrabcova, 40, who lives in Bohemia, in western Czech Republic, services machines in the metalworking industry. In February 2015, her hair got wrapped around a drill during work, ripping off the skin on her head including her forehand, eyebrows and eyelids.

"I had worked with the drill for several years, so I was well experienced and aware of the dangers, but I guess I just got complacent,” Vrabcova told CEN.

The woman underwent a nine-hour procedure at the University Hospital of Cinohrady in Prague, during which plastic surgeons reconstructed the skin on her head. She was released three weeks later.

“Now, the patient (Vrabcova) comes for regular medical checks and we advise her on how to treat the scars,” her surgeon, Dr. Andrej Sukop, told CEN. “The scars on her eyelids especially needed some special treatment.”

Sukop said Vrabcova’s hair has grown back quickly and that just one month following her surgery, it was nearly 1 inch long.

“The doctors and nurses are great, and it is fantastic that they can do such an amazing thing,” Vrabcova told the news website. “I really cannot imagine how I would feel now if the surgery had not been successful.”