Scary healing ways in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, people burned hemorrhoids with red hot iron, drilled holes in the skull without anesthetic, using sharp objects to remove the lens.

Horror treatments in the Middle Ages

Performing unsanitary procedures and without anesthesia, medieval procedures often cause pain and leave heavy sequelaes.

Burning hemorrhoids with heated iron

Medieval documents recorded that doctors used a heated iron bar to burn hemorrhoids to treat patients. This method was mentioned by Hippocrates right from 400 BC: "Giving the patient a prone position, placing a pillow under the genitals, then using the fingers to widen the anus as much as possible. Hot red iron bar and then burn the hemorrhoids until it is dry and there is no part left. "

Burning hemorrhoids with medieval iron.(Photo: CC).

This letter also describes, physicians will "find hemorrhoids without difficulty, because they protrude like bunches of dark grapes in the intestine, and when the brakes are open, the anus can spray blood".

During this period, the patient also cured in a different way, seeking to pray to Saint Fiacre, believed to be the guardian god for the sufferers. By the 12th century, Jewish doctor Moses Maimonides found a new, less painful method for hemorrhoids patients to soak in a bath.

Skull drilling

The drilling of skulls appeared thousands of years ago with evidence dating back to 6500 BC. By the Middle Ages, this was still a popular trick. While surgeons believe that opening a skull will help relieve pressure on the brain (to treat epilepsy, migraine or mental disorders), there is a belief that this surgical method will expel demons from the human body haunted by drilling holes in the head.

The hole drilled in the box is made without anesthetic like today.(Photo: Wellcome Trust).

Evidence of a medieval skull drill surgery was discovered in 2004 in Yorkshire, England. The skull was identified by a 40-year-old man who lived around 900-1100.

The victim was smashed into the back of the head, causing the left part of the skull to crumble deeply. The victim's skull was opened with a rectangular hole, 9-10 cm long, which reduced pressure on the brain and allowed the removal of broken bones. After that, the head bone heals, expressed through hard scar tissue. The surgery saved the man's life.

"It is likely that the surgery is performed by a mobile healer with unusual techniques, inherited by oral communication. The patient may have participated in a bar fight, robbed or met. in the purge due to family hatred in the Middle Ages, "said Simon Mays, a biologist at the British Archaeological Heritage Center.

Sharps in the eyes to treat cataracts

In order to cure chiseled crystals, medieval doctors stabbed a sharp-edged tool such as a knife or a large needle through the cornea, drawing the lens out to the bottom of the eye. Dangerous cataract surgeries at this time only occasionally succeed, most patients have severe infection or eye damage.

Later, the vitreous suction technique replaced hard-headed objects with hollow tubes poking at the sclera (sclera) white of the eye.

Change blood

Transfusion is one of the most popular treatments in the Middle Ages, applied to a variety of diseases. Doctors at the time thought that excess blood accumulated in the body was the cause of the disease. Therefore, they believe that removing a large amount of blood out will free people from illness.

The patient is given a blood transfusion by using blood-sucking leeches or using an open incision. Blood transfusion is so popular that it was not until the second half of the 19th century that doctors began to be skeptical about its effectiveness.

Catching children

Childbirth is particularly dangerous in the Middle Ages, women are often asked to confess before they are ready to die. In this period, the only pain reliever for women at birth was herbs and prayers.

Caesarean section is only performed when the woman is dying or has died, with a very high risk of death. One of the first successful capture operations was recorded in 1610 by Jeremiah Trautman in Wittenberg, Germany.

Use a metal catheter

The metal tube is stabbed from the urethra to the bladder to treat urinary obstruction.(Photo: CC).

Urination, the consequences of syphilis, kidney stones, or sexually transmitted diseases are treated with a metal tube. The tube is pierced from the urethra to the bladder to remove urine. A description in Chirurgia by British surgeon John Arderne in the 14th century also described a case of kidney stones by this method:

"If there is gravel in the bladder, follow these steps: Leave a beefy person to sit on a bench and set foot on the stool; the patient sits on his lap, legs tied to his neck with a bandage or hold fixed on the shoulders of the assistants, the doctor stood in front of the patient, put two right fingers in the patient's anus, pressed the left hand into the patient's lower abdomen, and used the fingers to check the bladder area If a round and hard object is detected, it is a pebble in the bladder.If you want to get kidney stones out, you should follow a light and fast diet for two days.

On the third day, locate the stone, put the gravel down the bladder neck, at the exit with 2 fingers above the anus, make a vertical line of the catheter and take the stone out. "