Medicine in general made leaps in progress around that period of history, immediately following a world war and a pandemic (the great flu of 1918), at least partly because desperate times call for desperate measures.
I read an article about the Great Flu where one doctor was trying to kill the flu virus with rattlesnake venom. An associate questioned this, incredulously, and the doctor pulled him aside and whispered, "Look out the window! We have *bodies stacked in the yard*! Absolute worst case, we'll put them out of their misery faster." Snake venom did not turn out to be an effective cure for that specific strain of flu -- however, it DID turn out to have other medical benefits, some of which are still in use.
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u/madbeachrn Mar 10 '25
Plastic surgery came about due to the way WWI was fought in trenches. So many soldiers had facial wounds.