The First Surgeons – Part 4: Operating on the Living Skull: Bone Setting and Trepanation in the Ancient World
The First Surgeons: Cutting-Edge Medicine Before Anesthesia 1 The First Surgeons – Part 1: Sushruta Samhita: The Cradle of Plastic Surgery 2 The First Surgeons – Part 2: Surgical Sterilization: Boiling Tools and Herbal Vapors in Antiquity 3 The First Surgeons – Part 3: Herbal Medicine & Early Pharmacology: The Systematic Science of 700 Plants 4 The First Surgeons – Part 4: Operating on the Living Skull: Bone Setting and Trepanation in the Ancient World ← Series Home Surgical Frontiers: Intervening on the Critical Structures Ancient surgeons demonstrated extraordinary courage and technical skill by attempting interventions on the most vital and complex parts of the human body, including the skull and the eye. The existence of specialized surgical instruments, such as purpose-built trephines and delicate curved needles, confirms that ancient medical practitioners did not shy away from operations requiring extreme precision and steadiness of hand. These sophisticated procedures—performed without modern anesthesia or detailed imaging—represent an advanced, albeit high-risk, frontier of ancient surgical ambition. ...