An Orthopedic Surgeon Explains Why Deion Sanders Had to Have 2 Toes Amputated: 'A Time Bomb in His Leg'

NFL Hall of Famer and Jackson State football coach Deion Sanders, 54, revealed last week that he had his left big toe and second toe amputated. The news came in the final episodes of the Barstoool Sports and SMAC Entertainment docuseries Coach Prime, which airs on barstoolsports.com and follows "Neon Deion" as he coaches his team at Jackson State.

The traumatic experience began a few weeks after Sanders underwent routine surgery in September to fix a dislocated toe and inflamed nerve. A few weeks after the surgery, his big left toe and second toe started turning black.

"They brought him to the hospital and found out relatively quickly that the cause of it was a blood clot in the femoral artery, one of the main arteries that go into your leg," says Dr. Steven Sheskier, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in foot and ankle surgery at NYU Langone Health, who did not treat Sanders.

Sanders soon learns that he had not just one, but three life-threatening blood clots. "They were talking about the amputation of toes," Sanders said in the show. "Then they were talking about the amputation of my leg from the knee down. Then, they were trying to ensure I had life."

RELATED: Deion Sanders Reveals He Had Two Toes Amputated Following Foot Surgery Complications

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That's because Sanders developed an extremely painful condition known as compartment syndrome.

"Due to the clots, he wasn't getting good circulation to his leg, lower leg and foot, and his calf muscle swelled up," says Sheskier. "The fascia, which goes over the muscle, became extremely tight, crushing the muscle, veins and artery. That's why he was in so much pain."

Sanders' doctors had to perform a procedure known as a fasciotomy, which involves cutting the tissue containing the muscle, relieving swelling and pressure by allowing it to expand. This lessened the amount of permanent damage to his body. "Ultimately they saved his leg, but the lack of circulation to the second toe and the first toe caused gangrene," Sheskier says. "More likely than not, the toes actually died. So they amputated those toes and closed it with some skin grafts."

Sheskier says this type of trauma following a routine procedure is very unusual.

"It's rare to have this after just foot surgery — there has to be some underlying cause," Sheskier says. "It was more likely than not a time bomb in his leg."

For more of Sanders' story, pick up a copy of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

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Indeed, Sanders revealed in the show that after his ordeal, his mother told him they have a family history of blood clots.

That factor likely contributed, says Sheskier: "I think there's genetic predisposition, plus he may have had high cholesterol or plaque developing in his artery, making it more likely to develop a clot."

Although Sanders' foot is healing well, he doesn't downplay the severity of the experience. "The hardest thing of it all was to look down there and see that, and understand, you know, once upon a time you were this type of athlete — and you don't even know if you're going to walk."