Dr. Nancy Smiley shares her holiday surf accident that ended up in with a trip to the ER:
Christmas Eve, a day off! So happy, surfing on the N. Shore at Pua’ena with my new board.
Waves were kinda small–4-5 feet face max. I took off on one and got churned, flipped into the air, and collided with my board. There wasn’t much pain, but when I felt my leg, there was a gash with a weird lump. I paddled in, then discovered one of the side fins hit my left shin, cut me all the way to the bone, and broke off into the wound! By now, it was bleeding profusely.
I drove myself to the Straub ER, where I ended up getting deep and superficial stitches and antibiotics.
All good for a few days, but by New Years Day, it was infected, so back to the ER for suture removal, IV antibiotics, labs, x-rays, and more antibiotics. Infected wounds can’t be stitched, so it has to heal by ‘secondary intention’–the scar’s gonna be ugly.
I’ve been kicking myself–I had SurfCo Pro Teck fins on my old board, but had neglected to put them on my new one. If I had, none of this would have happened–it would have been a bruise at most. What I spent on wound care supplies would have paid for the Pro Teck fins. Not to mention 5 weeks out of the water when we were having good swells!
Take my word for it and get these safe Pro Teck fins. You won’t regret it like I did!
– Nancy J. Smiley, MD
Family Physician and avid surfer
surfcotestimonies.com 
Leave a comment