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Jason Pierre-Paul Posts X-Ray Of Mangled Hand On Twitter

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – In the days after his July 4 fireworks accident, Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul tried to hide the severity of his injuries from team officials.

These days he's putting the fact that he lost his index finger and the tip of his thumb on full display, using an X-ray of his mangled right hand as his new avatar on Twitter.

JPP made the switch over the weekend. His header image on Twitter also features a closeup of his hands.

It's not the first time recently that the two-time Pro Bowler has used social media to show photos of the damage that was done in the Florida fireworks accident. Last month, Pierre-Paul posted a picture to Instagram showing him lying in a hospital bed the day after the incident with his bloodied hand wrapped in bandages.

"July 5th I remember when I was down and out," he wrote. "Just get back up and keep going no matter what."

Doctors initially told Pierre-Paul they might have to amputate his entire hand.

"Even the doctors counted me out," Pierre-Paul told the New York Post in December. "They were like, 'Yeah, we're gonna have to cut his whole hand off' and, you know … I just told the doctor not to cut my hand and passed out.

"It wasn't scary at all," he said of accident. "I just went straight to the hospital. Didn't panic, no nothing, I just went straight to the hospital. One of my friends took me there. It wasn't painful at all. It was no pain, no nothing at the time. I was just like, 'I gotta get my hand treated.' I lost a lot of blood."

Some wondered if he would ever be able to play football again. The two-time Pro Bowler didn't make his season debut until Nov. 8.

Pierre-Paul is set to become a free agent next month. He had just one sack in eight games last season.

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