Cornwall: Surfer required facelift for smashed face

[billie_morini]

I would not have told anyone, yet here’s a big splash report: Three-foot wave! An SUP!!
Makes me think Cornwall is treacherous. Makes me think SUPs are dangerous!

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
By DIANNE APEN-SADLER FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 14:01 EDT, 2 April 2019 | UPDATED: 14:06 EDT, 2 April 2019


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.

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.'

[dtc]

he's to use his experience to help others.

So... what is the answer? Dont ride a SUP I expect; I mean 13 foot of sup-ness flying nose first into your face wont be pretty.

Not sure what the answer is, to be serious - I guess the old 'cover your head' but its not always feasible. A helmet might have helped if he was wearing a visor, but even once helmets become more common I dont know what visors will be all that popular. Maybe 'never put the surfboard between you and the wave'

[jaffa1949]

OUCH JUST OUCH.
So I ask again , who among us is capable at first aid and CPR, this guy handled much of the initial response himself.
What could have you done?
One benefit of mobile phones help can be sought more readily! Old days run to nearest public phone and find it dead, vandalized !

At the very least phone for help while those who can help, do!

[oldmansurfer]

I guess the lesson is always fall between the wave and your board if possible and if not then penetrate the water and stay under till the wave passes over, or use a sponge board till you gain the skills to do that. So how do you help someone like that? Fortunately he was able to make it to shore because that is what was needed.

[surf patrol]

Dear me

[Silvery]

Similar thing happened to me last year, fortunately I only lost half a tooth

[OlegLupusov]

I may happen with a surfboard as well. Or it could be smb else's board.

For instance, I don't eve know what broke my jaw in three spots. It could have been smb else's board or mine. Being cautious and covering the head with the arms/hands, helmet, desharping the fins and the board nose, surfing only at the sport where lifeguards are on duty. Smart watch may be helpful in the ocean as it enables to call emergency service or at least help find your body:)
But none of that will eliminate the risks completely.
Even covering your head with your arms and hands is not 100 remedy although helps a lot. I was hit by the fin (there was a deep cut on my face near the year) and I got hit not after I resurfaced but before that either underwater or before I got under water. And the fin is narrow enough to find its way through the gaps left even with the best head covering.

Ride a foamie with flexible fins till the actual command of the sport and avoid the hard ones until certain level of confidence and skills.

I was also lucky enough to be able to paddle to the shore and drive myself to the ER.