Hot Irons Treating Hemorrhoids
- Time Period: 12th Century
It is well-known how painful hemorrhoids can be. Some can be so bad that people have to undergo surgery to fix this. In medieval times, physicians came across a very effective method of removing the issue. While it should be noted that some of the most horrific and barbaric medical treatments in history happened during this time, the same could be said about a lot of medieval history. Although this specific method was borrowed from the Greek Physician, Hippocrates.
During the 12th Century, medieval doctors used to treat the most severe hemorrhoids by burning them off. They would use an incredibly hot cautery iron. Yes, they used to stick that hot iron up where the sun does not shine. While this was obviously very painful, the method did remove the hemorrhoids. Since this area does go through a lot of potential damage, it will self-heal from the burns. Today, we use targeted lasers to take them off. Recovery time is remarkably lower in comparison.