EastEnders star Sid Owen has required emergency facial surgery after a golf ball shattered his jaw.
The 48-year-old actor, who played Ricky Butcher in the BBC soap, was on a detox holiday in Thailand when the accident happened, which saw him lose six teeth.
The Sun has reported that doctors said he was lucky it was not a fatal blow, as two inches higher could have left Sid in a difficult position.
As it was, the freak accident left him requiring reconstructive surgery to his shattered jaw.
Sid told The Sun that if the ball "had hit me two inches higher up I’d probably be dead from that sort of impact."
It has been five weeks since the accident and Sid has revealed that he is still in agony from what happened and has been told that he cannot fly home as they are waiting for brain scan results.
Sid recalled the moment of impact, when a golf ball ricocheted off a tree, just ten feet away from him.
He said: "It hurt like hell, but it was the shock factor too."
Sid said that two teeth flew out of his mouth as the ball broke his jaw and fractured his face, before he was taken to hospital in Bangkok for emergency treatment.
Sid has had to endure 15 hours of reconstructive surgery, which he said is 'agonising', and there is more to come.
The Walford favourite said that he "had to have a bone graft, followed by several rounds of dental surgery."
He said that the treatment was "total hell" and revealed that his visa has expired though "doctors said I wasn’t ready to fly."
The cost of treatment has already ran into the thousands and Sid thinks that he may have to come home before returning to Thailand to have the surgery finished, with no timescales being set at the moment for his recovery.
He is worried that his insurance won't cover the bill of his overlong stay and treatment in Thailand.
The Albert Square legend said that as well as losing six teeth, he has also lost almost two stone in weight as he has struggled to eat.
Sid is funding the treatment himself at the moment and revealed that he may need dentures for the rest of his life.
The prospect is not sitting well with him and he said: "It’s depressing, especially when you can’t sleep because of the pain."
The doctors have also warned him that the threat of coronavirus is also real, bemoaning his lot, Sid said: "It just feels like one thing after another at the moment."
It is hoped that he way return to EastEnders, especially now that his former screen wife Patsy Palmer has been re-cast as Ricky's ex partner Bianca.
Sid is remaining tight lipped though, as best as he can anyway, on the rumours of a return, simply saying: "I can’t really disclose anything at the moment."
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