Ambroise Paré was a French barber surgeon, born in 1510. He worked in a public hospital, then became an army surgeon. Pare treated many serious injuries caused by the war; this helped him improve surgical techniques. At this time, gunshot wounds often became infected. Doctors didn’t understand why this happened or how to treat it. The usual treatment was to burn the wound with a red-hot iron or to pour boiling oil onto it. This often did more harm than good.
During one battle, Paré ran out of oil and resorted to a simple cool salve (type of ointment) instead. To his surprise the patients treated this way did better than the ones scalded with oil.
Paré also invented a method of tying off vessels with threads (ligatures). This was less painful and so reduced the chance of the patient dying of shock. However, there was still a chance of infection. He also designed artificial limbs and improved the treatment of amputations.
Paré published his ideas to enable other doctors to read about them. At first, many doctors resisted Paré’s ideas. However, he eventually became surgeon to the King of France and, with his support, Paré’s ideas started to be accepted and helped to improve surgical techniques.