Cauterization

Cauterization is the practice of burning a part of the body to remove or close it off, historically used to stop bleeding, destroy unwanted growths and prevent infection when no other treatment was available. The technique has ancient roots across many civilizations: Egyptian and Greek medical texts describe its use to control hemorrhage, ancient physicians including Archigenes and Leonides of Alexandria used it to manage bleeding from wounds and tumor removal, and Chinese, Arab and Persian medical traditions all incorporated cauterization into their practice; it remained a standard treatment through the medieval period, and as recently as the twentieth century Bedouin communities in Israel used heated plant material to treat skin conditions. Modern medicine still uses electrocautery and chemical cautery on a limited basis, chiefly to remove warts and to cauterize the blood vessel responsible for frequent nosebleeds, although current research finds that cautery actually increases the risk of infection rather than preventing it, contrary to older belief.