U2 frontman Bono was seriously injured in a cycling accident earlier this week which resulted in five hours of surgery to insert three metal plates and 18 screws to repair fractures to both his face and arm.
Details have now emerged of the accident which occurred while Bono was cycling through Central Park in New York. While it was initially described a "cycling spill" in a statement from U2, it turns out that it was a much more serious incident.
According to Rolling Stone Bono was attempting to avoid another bike rider and was involved in what doctors have described as a "high energy bicycle accident." Bono was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center's Emergency Department and underwent "multiple X-rays and CAT scans" followed by five hours of surgery.
The singer suffered numerous serious injuries, including a "facial fracture involving the orbit of his eye," three separate fractures of his left shoulder blade and a fracture of his left humerus bone in his upper arm. The latter injury was particularly damaging, with the bone shattering in six different places and tearing through his skin.
According to orthopaedic trauma surgeon Dean Lorich, MD, "[Bono] was taken emergently to the operating room where the elbow was washed out and debrided, a nerve trapped in the break was moved and the bone was repaired with three metal plates and 18 screws."
Bono also underwent a second surgery to repair a fractured left little finger.
While there is no time frame on how long it will take Bono to recover Lorich also told Rolling Stone that Bono will "require intensive and progressive therapy," but "a full recovery is expected."
