Trepanning

When drilling a hole in one’s skull was considered a treatment

Day 154 / 365

One thing that we should be really thankful about the present day is the advances that we have made with medical science. We have come to a point where we can 3D print new organs to be transplanted to a patient.

But things weren't always this great. Before the invention of anesthesia, for instance, surgical procedures were done with the person wide awake. One particularly horrific procedure of this kind was Trepanning, which comprised of drilling a hole in someone’s skull!

This is about 1000s of years ago. Surgeons figured that some issues might be related to increased fluid pressure inside the brain. So there best solution to this was to use a hand-operated drill and cut a hole in the person’s skull to relieve the pressure.

People who had to go through this procedure were those who might have been acting abnormally, which would cause other’s to suspect they might be possessed by evil spirits.

But that’s not the strangest part. The part I found most astonishing about it is that will all the modern day scientific and medical advancements, we still have who want to get holes drilled in their skulls! There are people who voluntarily want this procedure done to them as they believe it would increase their brain function, although there is no scientific basis to these claims.

You can read about one woman who drilled a hole in her own brain here — https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bnj4qv/drilling-a-hole-in-your-head-for-a-higher-state-of-consciousness

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — The Hedonic Treadmill