Option 11: Medicine in Britain, c1250–present and The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches Study Guide

The 19th century saw significant developments in understanding and preventing infection during surgery. Before Pasteur's germ theory and Lister's antiseptic methods, surgery was incredibly dangerous due to high rates of infection, often leading to death. Surgeons operated in unsanitary conditions, rarely washing their hands or instruments, and often wore blood-stained coats with pride, seeing them as a sign of experience. This lack of hygiene meant that even successful operations frequently resulted in post-operative infections like gangrene and sepsis. The introduction of anaesthesia in the mid-19th century made longer and more complex surgeries possible, but also unfortunately increased the risk of infection as operations became more invasive, extending exposure time to bacteria. The later adoption of antiseptic and then aseptic techniques radically transformed surgical outcomes by drastically reducing infection rates and improving patient survival.