Surgery

Surgery in the Middle Ages? Of course.

The question actually comes up again and again. And I would be happy to tell people that in this case it is a misconception that there was no surgery in the Middle Ages.

There are recipes for sponges that were used for anesthesia. Plant-based anesthetics apparently worked well, allowing simple operations to be carried out.

The fact that hygiene plays a subordinate role is a myth that haunts history and is part of the theme of the Dark Ages. It is assumed that modern times have tried to badmouth the time since antiquity, namely the Middle Ages, and to this day people continue to report how dark that time was.

Sources on medications and replicas of the same suggest a wide range of clean environments. Because contamination of the medication can make the whole production go bad.

Although Robert Koch was responsible for the discovery of viruses and bacteria, people already had a certain idea of ​​what was happening.

Surgery, the opening of the human body, is not desired from the church’s perspective. Since the body itself is the creation of God. Surgery is actually forbidden in monasteries. Partly permitted in the hospital, such as wound care.

Since this is only a short treatise, I would just like to give a few examples where surgery was carried out:

• Cataract operations (eyes)
• Brain surgeries
• Stitch wounds
• Fix bone fractures

Regarding the equipment, it should be said that the tool was not blunt and also not coarse. Fine tools are the rule so that even smaller operations can be carried out.

Conclusion: Film depictions of screaming patients during operations and dirty, coarse surgical instruments are definitely not true. Anesthetics and fine tools were quite common.