Top 10 Strangest Medical Practices In History

#10: Female Hysteria Cures

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In the Victorian era, women who experienced anxiety, sleeplessness, irritability and who were plagued with erotic fantasies were diagnosed with hysteria. Of course, these symptoms actually stemmed from sexual frustration, but at the time, it was believed that women didn’t have sex drives. “Female hysteria” and its symptoms, as a result of the belief in the “wandering womb” whereby a woman’s uterus relocated to different parts of her body, had been recognized as early as ancient Greece. However, it was during the 19th century that doctors and midwives devised a treatment of massaging women’s genitals with various liquids like vegetable oil until they orgasmed. This treatment was popular and patients returned frequently, which led physicians to experience chronic hand fatigue. So eventually, a device was made to simplify the process, and today we know it as the vibrator.

#9: Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup

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Patent medicines were all the rage in the 19th and 20th centuries and this brand is a sample of the miracle cures that were widely promoted. Marketed by druggists Jeremiah Curtis and Benjamin A. Perkins, the name was attributed to Curtis’ mother-in-law, Charlotte N. Winslow who created the formula while nursing infants. Advertised as a medicinal product formula to soothe children's ailments, including teething, the syrup’s two main ingredients were morphine and aqua ammonia – the latter of which is used in household cleaning agents. Although successful in relieving pain and diarrhea, accidental overdose of the product wasn’t uncommon and it was hence given the nickname “baby killer.” Despite being denounced by the American MedicalAssociation in 1911, Mrs. Winslow’s continued to be sold until 1930 in the UK.

The advent of this barbaric procedure isn’t that far off from the present. The first lobotomy, also known as leucotomy, was performed in 1935 and became widely used as an alternative treatment for patients with serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia and depression. The procedure evolved from drilling into the skull to the ever-popular icepick, which was hammered above the eyeball and into the frontal lobes of the brain. The process was meant to eliminate superfluous emotion while evening out the personality. While it did render patients complacent, others experienced no change and many worsened, with their intellects, self-control and other forms of mental activity becoming limited.

Today, if you have moldy bread in your pantry, you would get rid of it. But back in the day, the use of moldy bread to disinfect cuts has been traced as far back as Ancient Egypt; and it was also used in Ancient Serbia, China and Greece. Though they didn’t know it at the time, the reason why this worked was that certain fungi are known to prevent the growth of disease-causing bacteria. This was later discovered by French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur. Who would have thought that moldy bread can act like penicillin? Seriously though, don’t use it on yourself; there’s rubbing alcohol for that.

Similar to other home remedies like Mrs. Winslow’s, heroin was a common ingredient found in many nineteenth-century miracle serums. In the 1890s, the company Bayer commercialized both their aspirin and heroin medicine bottles as remedies for children suffering from coughs, colds and aches. Due to extensive use of Bayer’s Heroin brand, patients started to develop a tolerance for the product – despite advertising it as a “non-addictive” substitute to morphine. This resulted in a growing number of addicts in the U.S. who kept trying to get their hands on it and its status as a drug that’s only legally available by prescription.

Passing stones has never been a pleasant experience; if you’ve ever experienced such pain, be very happy that surgeries through the butthole are a thing of the past. While bladder stones were sometimes removed by inserting a metal hook through the urethra, there also existed another method in the Middle Ages. Here, two assistants held down a patient in a “jack-knife” position while the doctor pushed the stone through the bladder's entrance and removed it by cutting through the anus. We should probably start calling this period the Brutal Ages.

#4: Electric Shock Therapy to Cure Impotence

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A shock to the system… well, for one particular system anyway… Although the discovery of electricity heralded quite a few ingenious technologies, the electric belt was definitely not one of them. One product called the Electric Belt and Suspensory for men was promoted in the early 20th century to cure erectile dysfunction, among other ailments. This contraption consisted of a belt with a coil of wire designed for the “crown jewels,” which sent a jolt to the groin. If men back then were willing to shock their junk, they must’ve been pretty desperate.

This procedure brings a whole new meaning to “fire in the hole”! In the Middle Ages, the best way to prevent hemorrhoids was by praying to St. Fiacre, the patron saint of hemorrhoid sufferers. If you were unlucky, then you had to visit the medieval physicians who would insert a hot iron into your anus. The less painful and least effective method was to sit on St. Fiacre's stone, where the 7th century Irish monk is said to have been miraculously cured of the ailment.

One of the most iconic historical medical practices that comes to mind, bloodletting was practiced for over two thousands years, notably in ancient Greece, Egypt and Europe in the 1800s. Bloodletting is the act of cutting open a vein and draining a considerable amount of blood in order to cure or prevent illness and disease. While metal instruments could be used, an alternative method for bloodletting was the practice of using leeches. Yes, those worms with a sucker at either end! Leeching worked in a similar vein as the use of metal instruments, but it was less invasive with the placement of leeches on the affected area; this procedure usually ended when the leeches were full of the infected blood and fell off. Before we unveil our number one pick, here are some honorable mentions. - Urine as Antiseptic & Remedy to Other Ailments - Dead Mice As a Cure for Warts - Mercury As Topical Cream for Various Ailments

This practice has been around for so long that it’s believed to be one of the oldest surgical procedures. In fact, many skulls dated to 6500 BC have been found with holes from trepanation. It's believed that these holes were drilled as a means of drawing out evil spirits as well as curing epileptic seizures, migraines and mental disorders. Like the lobotomy, trepanation involves making a hole in the skull, but unlike the lobotomy, it stops short of actually touching the brain. Disturbingly, the practice is still around today. Proponents claim that it increases blood flow to the brain and expands consciousness, but there is no scientific data to confirm these claims. Do you agree with our list? Which medical practice has piqued your curiosity? For more historically baffling Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.