History of Wound Care, Part 2. "The Greco-Roman period"

The Greco-Roman period, Hippocrates and Galen established Western medicine, and the humoral system was widely employed. Despite the fact that the humours mostly reflected interior ailments, Greco-Roman medicine also handled wounds resulting from both military warfare and rural civilian life. Several tracts of the Hippocratic Corpus addressed the treatment of wounds, including thorough descriptions of procedures and mechanisms to decrease fractures and dislocations. Celsus (100 CE), a Roman encyclopedist, published the first complete account of arrow wounds and a novel instrument, the spoon of Diocles, for their removal.

Celsus and Galen described step-by-step techniques for halting bleeding, ranging from elevating the limb to applying direct pressure to using various styptics, with vascular ligation as a final resort, typically flax or linen sutures. Given their belief in the humours, bleeding was particularly important and received considerable emphasis in ancient medical books. Despite being acknowledged as a feature of wound healing, Inflammation has been the subject of significantly less research. The Greeks did not appear to have ever developed a regular military-medical system, whereas the Roman Army was known for its professional service. Each legion was supplied with Medici who provided wound care in the valetudinarians or field hospitals that dotted the borders of the Roman Empire, despite their inconsistent and non-standardized training.

The Greeks emphasized the significance of hygiene and advised cleaning wounds with clean, often-boiling water, vinegar, and wine. In addition, they distinguished between "fresh" or acute wounds and non-healing or chronic wounds. The Romans recognized inflammation's four basic symptoms: redness, swelling, heat, and pain. The cultural relationship between wounds and valor was also obvious in the Greco-Roman culture and persisted through the Arthurian stories and ideas of chivalry in the Middle Ages.





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