A father whose hand was sewn into his stomach in a groundbreaking procedure has revealed the harrowing stages of his year-long recovery - and said he hopes to one day have fingers again.

Brazilian Carlos Mariotti feared his hand would have to be amputated after a horrific workplace accident, but has spoken proudly about how he has once again mastered tasks he previously took for granted.

In a world exclusive interview with MailOnline, Carlos revealed how he can hold his toothbrush and talk on his mobile phone, things he thought he would never do again.

Carlos Mariotti is pictured here after three groundbreaking operations to save his hand from being amputated after a horrific accident at work

Carlos Mariotti is finally able to hold a mobile phone again in his left hand

Carlos is pictured here, before the accident, at his eight-year-old son Guilherme’s, fourth birthday party in 2013. Guilherme was traumatised by the incident and suffered from nightmares for months

Carlos's left hand is currently shaped like a boxing glove with a tiny thumb and a ball of puffy flesh where his four fingers should be

It's taken months of practice to do this simple task but it's a milestone achievement in his recovery.

That's because Carlos's left hand is shaped like a boxing glove with a tiny thumb and a ball of puffy flesh where his four fingers should be.

Small remnants of the bony digits are tucked inside his fist-shaped stump, which is covered on the back with skin taken from his belly and on the palm with skin grafted from his thigh.

The Brazilian now has an orb-shaped mitt for a hand as the result of three pioneering procedures by Brazilian surgeons to save it from amputation

The orb-shaped mitt is the result of three pioneering procedures by Brazilian surgeons to save Carlos's hand from amputation.

And it's not over. He is facing another ground-breaking operation as doctors prepare to cut and reconstruct his hand into individual fingers.

It will be the first operation of its kind in the world with physicians hoping to restore some functions and sensitivity to the shattered parts.

It's been a harrowing journey of recovery for the former machine operator from Sao Ludgero, south Brazil, following the grisly accident in March last year.

Carlos's hand was ripped to shreds after it was trapped between two coil rollers in an industrial machine used to make plastic cups and plates.

'I remember the machine had some problems. We had to switch it off and start it again,' the 43-year-old recalled.

'We were putting a roll of film into three different coil cylinders. I don't know whether it was the fault of the machine or a problem with the other operator, but as we put in the film, the machine started to pull my hand in.

'I screamed in agony as my hand was dragged into the machine. I got the strength to wrench it out but as I did, I lost all the skin on the palm and the back of my hand.

'I lost all the nerves and veins and the tops of two of my fingers. It was totally mutilated.'

Surgeons inserted Carlos's hand inside a soft tissue pocket in his belly, in the first surgery last year March 29, so the flesh from his stomach would, over time, fuse with the back of the hand and cover it

Carlos is pictured here at home with his hand in a pocket in his belly during April to May 2016. 'It was a really weird sensation because I could feel my fingers wiggling inside my body,' said the married father-of-one

Carlos kept his hand buried in his belly for 42 days in the procedure which saved his hand from amputation. Pictured are the scars and stitches on his stomach after his hand was removed

The accident destroyed tissue, severed blood supply and left bones and tendons exposed before his workmates could rush over to help.

'I was in unbearable pain and was told at the hospital my hand may have to be amputated,' remembered Carlos.

'But I had a lot of faith that this wouldn't happen, and God would put someone there to save it.'

Dr Boris Brandao, orthopaedic surgeon at Santa Otilia Foundation Hospital in Orleans, was responsible for making the ingenious surgical decision to salvage Carlos's degloved hand.

He inserted it inside a soft tissue pocket in the injured man's belly so the flesh from his stomach would, over time, fuse with the back of the hand and cover it.

Brandao took the amazing picture of Carlos lying on the operating table with his mangled limb tucked inside the body pouch. And he photographed him with bandages wrapped around his midriff which were protecting the buried hand.

Happier times back in 2003: Carlos pictured eating with a knife and fork before the shocking accident

Then and now: Carlos with wife Cida on their wedding day (left) in 2007 and a year after his horrific accident

Horrifying: Carlos said his hand was 'totally mutilated' in the accident last year March, after it got trapped in industrial machinery

The physician's remarkable intervention gave the factory worker a fighting chance to get his hand back.

Brandao revealed: 'I had never done this procedure before but I knew what was possible. We separated the skin from the abdominal muscles and created a bag inside his body.

'I inserted the patient's hand through a 10-centimetre incision into a cavity in the abdomen. This prevented infection and necrosis from setting in, while allowing the limb to reconnect to blood supply and restore muscle and tissue.'

The surgeon, who is also a dermatologist, continued: 'We sutured and sewed it into the abdomen so the skin would cover the back of the hand while the muscle beneath would form the palm.'

Carlos kept his hand buried in his belly for 42 days.

Carlos hopes another operation will restore use of his fingers after the accident which left his hand 'mutilated'

Incredibly surgeons used the skin, muscles and blood vessels from this belly to cover the back of his hand. Surgeons transplanted skin from his thigh for his palm in the third surgery last year May 16.

Carlos's hand pictured in the early stages of the healing process following the incredible operation to prevent it being amputated

Surgeon’s stitched the skin on Carlos’s hand joining the front and back together. Unfortunately, areas of skin on the palm died and turned black and had to be cut out

In May 2016, skin was spliced from Carlos’s thigh and transplanted grafts used to cover his palm. After the damaged areas were cut out the skin on the hand started to heal well

'It was a really weird sensation because I could feel my fingers wiggling inside my body,' said the married father-of-one.

'When I moved them around my tummy protruded as I prodded about. I was told by doctors to make sure I kept my hand pushed inwards and to keep my fingers moving so they didn't seize up.

'Every day I reminded myself that I couldn't take my hand out because it was in a pocket. I was terrified I'd break the stitches and damage my chances of recovery.'

Carlos experienced 'terrible pain and discomfort' during the time his hand was pinned inside his tummy.

'The pain was unforgettable and unbearable. I struggled to sleep because I couldn't turn on my side or lie on my front,' he said grimacing with the memory.

'Sometimes, I would explode with rage because I was so frustrated with being helpless. I was dependent on other people, particularly my wife, Cida, who was incredibly patient, to help me with my personal hygiene, change my clothes, button up my shirt and put on my trousers.'

Recovering: Carlos recovering in hospital after his second operation in May last year, two months after the horrific accident

Surgeons bandaged Carlos's hand after his second surgery on May 9. Carlos is facing more groundbreaking surgery which will reconstruct and return the use of his fingers

Carlos was left with a large scar on his stomach, where his hand was inserted, and on his thigh as a result of skin grafts. Skin was taken from his body and used on his palm in the third operation in May 2016

The healing transplant area on Carlos's thigh where skin was removed for his palm in the third operation on May16 last year

In May last year, six weeks after the first surgery, physicians removed Carlos's hand from his paunch with the skin of his abdomen successfully covering the back.

The front of his damaged mitt however, was an unsightly mass of bloodied flesh cut from his midsection. This is the muscle and tissue that has been used to rebuild his hand into its present form.

During surgery, physicians separated the thumb from the rest of the hand with an incision, then woke Carlos up and asked him to move the limb which was unrecognisable as a hand.

Despite this, the determined patient flexed and moved the fingers as the joints inside the mass of brawn responded to his command.

Carlos, who has been with his wife Cida, 50, for 17 years revealed: 'The doctor said lift up your hand, move it around and try to do some movements.

Dr Boris Brandao, orthopaedic surgeon at Santa Otilia Foundation Hospital in Orleans, was responsible for making the ingenious surgical decision to salvage Carlos's degloved hand. Here he shows how he plans to do the next pioneering operation to give Carlos back his fingers. The first operation will separate the pairs fingers into halves in the shape of a vee

'He put a piece of paper between my thumb and my hand and I grabbed it. I remember he tried to pull it and it wouldn't come out.'

The third procedure, seven days later, involved splicing skin from Carlos's left thigh and grafting it onto his palm.

Unfortunately, areas of the transplant died within a few days and sections of the damaged skin had to be cut out from the palm.

As the hand has healed and taken the shape of a boxing mitt, physiotherapy has aided Carlos's recovery. He can scrunch it forward to hold his mobile phone and uses the thumb in a pincer movement to grasp his toothbrush, grip a pen and clutch a knife.

But he hates wiggling the remnants of the bones of his fingers inside the fist.

'I can feel the small pieces of my fingers moving around and sometimes the points of the bones jab inside and hurt,' he said adding that now he is able to do much more than before.

'Today I can put on my socks, put on my t-shirt and take it off, change my shorts and slowly do up the buttons on my trousers. I can take a shower and cradle the soap in my left hand whereas before it would slip out and fall to the floor.'

The next pioneering operation will reconstruct fingers from Carlos’s boxing glove shaped hand. Surgeons plan to rebuild his fingers in two stages

After intense practice, Carlos is once again able to put his socks on using his damaged left hand

Following the remarkable surgery, Carlos is able to carry out tasks which he thought he would never be able to do again

But he remains frustrated as he sometimes forgets his injury.

'There are times I go to pick something up but when I reach for it, I can't. Then I remember I don't have my hand anymore and that's a really strange and upsetting feeling,' Carlos admitted.

He's hoping the forthcoming cosmetic surgery will change all of that.

The pioneering procedure will be performed in two stages.

The first operation will divide Carlos's hand into two parts, creating the shape of a vee, with a pair of fingers encased in each of the halved sections.

A deeper cut in the area between the thumb and the hand will improve the thumb's flexibility.

The hand is currently bulky because of the abdominal fatty chunk of skin used to cover the back of it.

Liposuction will drain away the fatty tissue improving the look of the hand.

The Zettapack Factory where Carlos suffered his devastating injury a year ago

Outside Carlos's home in Sao Ludgero, south Brazil, where he has been recovering from his injury for the past year

After a few months of recovery, the final procedure will cut into the two separated sections, dividing and reconstructing the digits into four fingers.

But there is no certainty when the procedure will be done as the surgical costs are far beyond Carlos's budget since he hasn't been able to work for a year.

In a desperate bid to regain his independence and self-esteem, Carlos has launched a JustGiving fund raising campaign.

'I have been through a lot and struggled to make ends meet since the accident. Much of the surgery has been done with the kindness of Dr Brandao, as my employer has failed to support me,' said Carlos, adding that his eight-year-old son Guilherme was traumatised by the incident and suffered from nightmares for months. These have now receded.

'I never imagined in my wildest dreams that doctors would take this incredible step to save my hand.

'Now I need to complete the journey, rebuild my life and return to work to support my family. But I cannot get to the next stage without help.'

Carlos's employer, Zettapack Industrial de Plasticos, was approached for a comment but declined to respond.

Should you wish to make a donation to help Carlos please go to his Just Giving Page.