According to evidence found on ancient skulls, surgery has been practiced since the stone age. In fact, the first type of surgery was probably a crude type of brain operation called trepanning, in which the skull was pierced with a sharp implement in order to relieve pressure in the brain caused by traumatic brain injuries. Interestingly, when we study these skulls, we find that in many cases there are signs of healing around the trepanned bone, indicating that despite the crudeness of the operation, people were able to survive and thrive for many years after being operated on. We think that ancient people also may have successfully performed simple operations that involved setting bones, drilling teeth, and draining abscesses. In fact, in medieval times, the field of dentistry evolved as a method of performing minor surgeries not only in the mouth, but also other areas of the body. Despite the many surgical advances that occurred during ancient and medieval time, many surgeries resulted in complications or death. Therefore, surgery was often only used in cases of last resort. During modern times, however, there were three scientific developments that helped surgery become a safe, effective medical procedure — bleeding control, anesthesia, and antibiotics. Bleeding was a major problem during surgical procedures up until the 20th century, because it could quickly cause death due to blood loss during even a minor procedure. One important discovery was that blood vessels could be tied off or burned in order to stop blood loss. However, it was not until the discovery of blood typing and transfusion medicine that non-minor procedures could become safe by allowing people who had suffered blood loss to receive treatment that could restore their health. Another issue for surgical medicine was pain control. Before the 19th century, surgeons had to get their patients drunk and tie them down in order to operate. Even so, the lack of pain relief made major surgery impossible, because surgery had to be performed so quickly. In addition, pain causes autonomic changes in the body that often result in patients going into shock during or after surgery, usually resulting in death. In the mid-19th century, dentists discovered that inhaled gases such as ether and chloroform could allow safe and painless surgeries. Today, the use of these types of inhaled gases is supplemented by the use of tranquilizing agents and muscle relaxants that force the body to be completely still, which helps make surgeries even safer. Finally, antibiotics were essential for safe, modern surgery, because before their discovery, many patients died due to post-surgical infections. In fact, surgeons routinely operated with dirty hands in a non-sterile surgical field, causing massive infection and suffering. Hand washing, implement sterilization, and antibiotics revolutionized surgical medicine and improved survival rates dramatically. Today, surgeries are a routine and relatively low-risk procedure used to treat a variety of conditions once considered incurable, from appendicitis to cancer. It no longer has to be reserved for cases of last resort, because of advances in pain control, bleeding control, and antibiotics. For more information on surgery, visit http://doctormicroblog.com and http://surgerymicroblog.com