Chris Hamilton has revealed he turned down surgery on his fractured cheekbone so he could return to action as quickly as possible with Dunfermline Athletic.
The Pars vice-captain made his comeback in Tuesday’s Fife derby defeat to Raith Rovers with the aid of a mask.
He was left with a ‘dent’ on the side of his face after a kick from Arbroath striker Jay Bird in the 1-1 draw between the teams on December 23.
The 22-year-old feared he was set for a significant spell on the sidelines with the injury.
But, in the end, he sat out only one game – Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Ayr United – after consulting with medics and deciding against an operation.
He said: “I spoke to the specialist on Sunday and he was happy for me to play with the mask with little risk involved.
“I had the option [of surgery]. I’ve a small dent on the side of my face so it would be to put that back into place.
“But I think I’m just going to go without it and just keep playing.
DAFC defender: ‘They saw the dent’
“It was sore at the time. To be fair, the physio and the Arbroath doctor handled it well.
“I was wanting to try and play on and see if it would settle down!
“But they saw the dent straight away and realised what it could’ve been.
“So, fair play to them for taking control and getting me off.
“I feared it could’ve been a while out. With injuries like this, it’s really hard to find anything online – papers, things like that.
“You really need to speak to a specialist who deals with sports people.”
Hamilton has confessed he had little chance to try out his protective mask before taking on Raith, and found it awkward.
He added: “I was happy to wear it but it’s a wee a bit different. You lose a wee bit of your vision but it’s not too bad.
Hamilton: ‘It affected me’
“It affected me a wee bit. I’d only trained with it once after getting the all-clear so it took a bit of getting used to.
“I’m not sure how many games [I’ll have to wear it], at least a couple more.”
Hamilton has moved back into central defence this season due to injuries to skipper Kyle Benedictus and Rhys Breen.
And he himself was accidentally involved in another stopper, Sam Fisher, sustaining a second head knock in the space of just over a fortnight in the defeat to Rovers.
Ahead of Friday night’s trip to face Queen’s Park at Hampden, he explained: “There was lots of blood, it really didn’t look great.
“I know my stud has maybe caught him on the nose and it looked a really sore one.
“I am gutted for him. Centre backs are cursed here. It’s mental. I’ve never seen anything like this in my career.
“It’s strange injuries as well. My cheekbone, Sam’s nose and Bene’s [broken] foot earlier in the season.
“It seems to be happening every few weeks but we can’t use it as an excuse.
“We need to keep going, we’ve bodies who can fill in and the boys are doing that just now.”
