Joseph Lister was a Scottish surgeon who picked up the achievements of Louis Pasteur and used them to change the success rates of surgery.

 

In 1865 Lister read about Pasteur's work on how wine went bad because of micro-organisms in the air. Lister was convinced that micro-organisms in the air were also the cause of the infections which killed up to half of his patients after they had successfully survived surgery. The open wounds made it easy for the germs to get into the body.

 

Lister had heard that carbolic acid had been used to get rid of a cattle parasite in fields, and to treat sewage. He decided to see if it could also stop wounds becoming infected. He started to clean the wounds of his patients with carbolic acid, and soaked their dressings in antiseptic liquid as well.

 

In the years from 1864 to 1866 the death rate for Lister's surgical patients was 45.7%. Between 1867 and 1870, after he introduced his new antiseptic treatment, this fell to 15%.

 

Lister went on to develop an antiseptic spray which was used in operating theatres during surgery to keep the wound clean. This spray was not used for long though, because carbolic acid actually damages the tissues and breathing it in can cause problems.

 

More successful was the special dressing he developed which contained carbolic acid to keep the wound clean, but also a barrier which kept it away from the patient’s flesh, so it didn't cause any damage.

 

"Lister saw the vast importance of Pasteur work because he was watching on the heights, and he was watching there alone."

Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt

Source: Wikipedia

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