4 ms·
Barber-surgeons.
by errcorrectcode 5y ago
Barber-surgeons.
- nradov 5y agoMany barbers also did some dentistry.
- errcorrectcode 5y agoI always want a shave and a blood letting after getting some rotten teeth pulled. It was a very convenient trade.
- hammock 5y agoI'm guessing the medieval toothpulling would count as a good bloodletting as well.
- errcorrectcode 5y agoIt depended if you were a bleeder or not. My barber gave me some salted fish to pack in there, so it really didn't bleed all that much.
- Aerroon 5y agoFor those who don't know: barbers were also surgeons and dentists until around the middle of the 18th century. Not only did they cut your hair they also pulled out your teeth and performed surgery on you.
- hef19898 5y agoAnd where generally closer to our modern day MDs then real mediaval MDs. As those where theologists coming from christian universities where they received basically zero true medical training.
- pessimizer 5y agoSecular doctors were also terrible: before the late-19th century, seeing a doctor was more likely to shorten your lifespan than lengthen it. Unless you needed surgery, which meant that you were in serious trouble anyway, so even with the extreme likelihood of infection your odds were a bit better than just leaving it alone. As far as I can tell, before like 1880 they prescribed mercury for everything. Even though they were universally terrible, when you read their writings they're no less confident in what they were doing than modern doctors are. My favorite historical doctor was Benjamin Rush, a "founding father," who was hilariously bad at his job even for the time.
- hef19898 5y agoMedival doctors seemd to be fairly good, for their time, when it came to broken bones and such. Basically battlefield injuries that didn't damage inner organs. I remeber when they discovered the bones of an English archer. That guy in hos forties had all kinds of broken bones, healed cuts to his bones and head... That and the Egyptian medics, and before, that drilled holes in heads to relieve pressure. Why know those surgeries where successfup because the bone healed on the skeletons we found. Also back the day people seemed to be not too bad when it came to healing properties of herbs. But you are right, generally speaking you had the choice between really bad, utterly had, extremely bad and outright killing theit patients bad doctors for the most part of history.
- otabdeveloper4 5y ago> before the late-19th century, seeing a doctor was more likely to shorten your lifespan than lengthen it Medical malpractice is the third-leading cause of death. (After cancers and cardiovascular problems, aka "old age".) This is inevitable as we can't really experiment on people and do real science.
- ncmncm 5y agoAn unknown, but large fraction of all three trace, lately, to sugar, among British subjects and its former colonies. It is probable that declining US life expectancy traces to sugar exposure.