Lister and Antisceptics
- Created by: Geot
- Created on: 29-04-14 09:18
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- Joseph Lister - Antisceptics
- Before
- Operations took place in open rooms, often with spectators watching on
- Surgery was carried out on plain, wooden tables which were unsterilised
- Instruments, ligatures and the surgeons themselves would not be sterilised
- Gangrene and infection was common, resulting in limb loss or even death
- After
- Carbolic spray killed germs, reducing deaths, but it irritated patients and surgeons' skin
- Rubber gloves were specifically developed as an alternative to leather in the late 1800s to stop this
- Discovery
- Lister knew that miasma theory was under serious question from doctors like Pasteur and Koch
- If germ theory was correct, it meant that many of the current precautions in surgery were completely useless
- Runge (1797 - 1867) had used a chemical called creosote to preserve wood, as it stopped rotting
- It was later used to treat sewage in both England and Holland
- Lister tested his own mixture of processed carbolic acid that was safer and purer
- He applied the 'carbolic acid' to surgical instruments, wounds and dressings
- Gangrene was greatly reduced in cases where carbolic acid was applied to the wound
- He applied the 'carbolic acid' to surgical instruments, wounds and dressings
- In 1865 he clinically tested it on the lint dressing of a boy with a fractured leg after an accident
- When the dressing was removed, he discovered that no infection had developed
- After six weeks, the leg had healed perfectly with no infection or complications
- The test was a successs: he published the results to great acclaim and reward
- When the dressing was removed, he discovered that no infection had developed
- Lister knew that miasma theory was under serious question from doctors like Pasteur and Koch
- Uses
- Born: 5th April 1827
- Quaker, son of a lensmaker
- Graduated from UCL in 1850 with Bachelor of Medicine
- Follower of Pasteur and Semmelweiss, supporting germ theory
- Assistant surgeon at Edinburgh before switching to Glasgow
- Follower of Pasteur and Semmelweiss, supporting germ theory
- Graduated from UCL in 1850 with Bachelor of Medicine
- Quaker, son of a lensmaker
- Before
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