The “Father of Antiseptic Surgery“, Joseph lister He was born on April 5, 1827, in Upton, Essex, England. His father, Joseph Jackson Lister, was not only a wine merchant, but also an amateur scientist. Joseph was the second of three children.
Coming from a family of Quakers, the young Joseph lister he also attended Quaker schools in London and Hertfordshire, where great emphasis was placed on the sciences, which gave him a solid foundation for his future profession. Lister He observed the first surgical procedure that used anesthesia in 1846. He then attended the University of London, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1847. Later, he applied to become a medical student and eventually earned his Bachelor of Medicine. and Surgery. Due to his exceptional performance, he was awarded two college gold medals and easily became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1852. He then became an assistant to the Professor of Clinical Surgery, James Syme at Edinburgh, and finally at his associate surgeon. He married Syme’s daughter, Agnes, who was his partner in the laboratory due to her keen interest in medical research.
Joseph lister I had always been aware that the number of deaths after surgery was not caused by the operation itself, but by what followed after the procedure. Because there was an alarming rate of “ward fever” after surgery, Lister wondered what could be causing this event.
Comparing patients with simple fractures to those with compound fractures, he concluded that the infection came from outside, as the problem occurred only in those with open wounds compared to those without any surface lacerations. Lister She started adding hygiene practices before doing any operations, making sure her hands were clean and her clothes fresh. At that time, it was common for doctors to walk covered in blood, as this was like a status symbol for them. They scoffed at non-traditional methods of Lister.
Carbolic acid was then used as an effective sewer disinfectant. By confirming that it was safe to be used on human flesh, Joseph lister he saw it as the solution to the problem. He began to use it to wash his hands, as well as the instruments he needed in each operation. He began to cover his patients’ wounds with a piece of fluff covered in carbolic acid. He also devised a machine that sprayed air with carbolic acid to get rid of airborne germs. He refined his techniques until he had sufficient proof that everything he had done was successful, and he continued to publish everything he discovered in a medical journal called The Lancet, in 1867.
As expected, it took a long time for people involved in the medical field to accept the results of Lister. Many of them were incredulous at the idea that organisms too small to be seen caused all the deaths after the operation. Some found it tiring to have to go through the sterilization process before performing an operation. And although some tried the methods of ListerMost of them did it incorrectly, so their efforts proved futile. Now Lister He was Professor of Clinical Surgery in Edinburgh, and he kept modifying his system to achieve better results, despite negative feedback.
It took 12 long years before the system Lister will gain wide acceptance. Those who emulated his example in Munich were astonishingly successful, with the death rate from infections after surgeries dropping from 80% to almost zero. English physicians were among the last to accept his methods, only accepting them when he was appointed professor of surgery at King’s College Hospital, London in 1877. By 1879, his findings had gained wide acceptance throughout the world.
Joseph lister He was the queen’s surgeon for many years, introducing the use of rubber drainage tubes after testing it on her. He also showed that sterilized materials could be left inside a patient’s body as needed and used sterilized silver wire inside the body to hold the broken bones together. And since the silk thread used in the internal seam caused more damage when pulled out after some time, Lister started using sterile catgut, as it would eventually dissolve.
He became the Vice President of the Royal College of Surgeons and President of the Royal Society. He was also President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He helped establish the British Institute for Preventive Medicine in 1891, which was later named The Lister Institute in his honor.
For all his accomplishments, he finally retired in 1893, shortly after his wife died in 1892. He still received requests for advice and services from time to time, although he was left a bit melancholy after losing his life partner. Joseph lister He died in Walmer, Kent, England on February 10, 1912 at the age of 84.