In the 19th century, a man DROVE A NAIL THROUGH HIS PENIS and then used a hammer to break a bladder stone apart until it was small enough to pass through his urethra
WOW! I’ve gotten a windfall of new followers, thanks to @Mrs_Angemi! So, welcome everyone to the weird and wonderful world of medical history. Here’s a reminder that things aren’t as bad as they seem today. In the 19th century, a man DROVE A NAIL THROUGH HIS PENIS and then used a hammer to break a bladder stone apart until it was small enough to pass through his urethra. Imagine how desperate you would have to be to resort to these measures.
Before 1846, lithotomy (pictured here) to remove stones would have been done without anesthetic. The surgeon would pass a curved metal tube up the patient’s penis and into the bladder. He then slid a finger into the man’s rectum, feeling for the stone. Once he had located it, his assistant removed the metal tube and replaced it with a wooden staff, which acted as a guide so the surgeon wouldn’t fatally rupture the patient’s rectum or intestines as he began cutting deep into the bladder. Once the staff was in place, the surgeon cut diagonally through the fibrous muscle of the scrotum until he reached the wooden staff. Next, he used the probe to widen the hole, ripping open the prostate gland in the process. At this point, he removed the wooden staff and used forceps to extract the stone from the bladder.