Dean Unglert Has 13 Staples Removed from His Leg After Ski Accident in Swiss Alps

Dean Unglert is continuing his journey to full health after a terrifying ski accident in Switzerland landed him in the hospital.

The Bachelor in Paradise star, 28, revealed on Instagram on Tuesday that he had 13 staples removed from his leg after his ski accident last month in Zermatt, Switzerland.

On his Instagram Stories, the reality star-turned-travel blogger shared footage from his doctor’s visit in London, during which he said he got an “anatomy lesson” while the doctor removed the staples along his “trouser pocket nerve.”

The update comes the morning after Unglert shared his first blog post since the accident, revealing exactly how he dislocated his hip and fractured his femur.

The Colorado native explained that after “an awesome day skiing a mountain I only ever dreamed of as a kid,” he was ready to take one final run before turning in for the night.

“Given the conditions, it was hard to see all the obstacles that lay ahead,” Unglert said. “Sure enough, while I was blowing down the mountain hooting and hollering, an obstacle came out of nowhere and placed itself right under my skis. I skied hard into a rock that had hidden itself with a fresh dusting of snow.”

“The second I hit the rock my left ski flew off and I immediately knew this wasn’t going to end well,” he continued.

Unfortunately, he was right, and said he “was launched through the air and torqued my leg in a way it’s never been before.”

“In the middle of my tumble, I could hear and feel something bad happen to my right hip, but I had no idea exactly what happened,” he continued.

While Unglert said he considers himself “to be a fairly resilient person with high pain tolerance,” this was a pain unlike any he experienced before, and he “realized I did something worse than I ever could have imagined.”

The Bachelor Nation alum said that he called Swiss Mountain Rescue, but the call “didn’t yield much of a result.”

But luckily, another skier came down the mountain and the “knight in shining armor” was able to help notify ski patrol and get Unglert onto a helicopter to the hospital, he said.

Unglert recounted the swift-acting first responders and hospital staff, who took him directly to surgery once he arrived at the hospital. While Unglert applauded the health care he received in Switzerland, he said that the trip “wound up being the most expensive” one he’s ever taken thanks to more thousands of dollars in medical fees — though he did point out that his medical care would likely have cost him even more in the United States.

“This is the second time in my life I’ve been put to sleep for an operation,” Unglert said, adding that “the whole process seemed a lot more frightening” than the first time he underwent surgery as a teenager.

Unglert was discharged from the hospital on December 28, and he said in his blog post that now “the most challenging part of this whole experience still lays ahead of me.”

Because he was deemed “unfit to fly,” Unglert and girlfriend Caelynn Miller-Keyes took trains from Switzerland to London, where he got his staples out on Tuesday, and where he says he will stay to recuperate until he flies back to the United States.

“This whole experience is a strong reminder that I am not invincible,” Unglert said, explaining that he had “reached a certain point where I felt like there were no physical consequences to my actions.”

“All in all, this accident is a good reminder that I am not above death or injury,” he said. “I am capable of seriously hurting myself and causing permanent damage, or worse. I’m looking forward to slowing down for a bit, relearning what makes me happy, exploring new hobbies and ideas. At the end of the day, I do strongly believe more good will ultimately come from this than bad.”