January 16, 2004

A History of The Lobotomy. "He anesthetized them with three rapid bursts of electric shock. He then drew the upper eyelid away from the eyeball, exposing the tear duct. The sharp point of the ice pick was placed in this, and then, as Freeman put it, "a light tap with a hammer is usually all that is needed to drive the point through the orbital plate". The ice pick was plunged into the brain. When it was about two inches inside, Freeman would pull the ice pick about 30 degrees backward, as far as he could without cracking the skull, and then move it up and down in another 20 degree arc, in order to cut the nerves at the base of the frontal lobes." An infamous chapter in medical history. [via Fark]
posted by CellarFloor 20 years ago
  • Once inside the brain, the blade would be swung in two cutting arcs, destroying the targeted nerve matter. "It goes through just like soft butter," said Watts. Well, there goes my appetite. Good find though, CellarFloor.
  • I'd rather have a bottle in front of me. Sorry, sorry.
  • Me, too. Totally gives me the grues.
  • Mmmmm. Soft butter.
  • Interesting. I wonder if there are medical procedures done now that will seem barbaric a half century from now.
  • Lobotomy? Wasn't that before the interweb? Now we have MonkeyFilter. I feel strangly calm and emotionally distant.
  • Monorail! (/derail)
  • Just for future reference, I would really, really, really prefer not to have those kind of details on the front page. *huuuuuurl*
  • the lobotomy hall of fame includes JFK's sister.
  • Just for future reference, I would really, really, really prefer not to have those kind of details on the front page. Of course, a couple threads ago, a couple MeFi immigrants were complaining that the front page posts were not descriptive enough. Still, this is something that could benefit from a [more inside]--not that much is left after mucking about with that ice pick.
  • I'm really surprised that this thread didn't devolve into recipes or zombie references back then.
  • Only because you must have been, somewhat distant, shall we say, when discussing this. /ponders about BearGuy, bemusedly.
  • IMHO anyone who would do a lobotomy is one sick puppy.
  • I often remember an early interwebs page (pre-"blog" perhaps?) detailing a young man performing a "lobotomy" on himself with the assistance of a couple of friends. It was graphic, and seemingly legit. It creeped the hell out of me. I think they utilized a Dremel tool. He took out a small chunk of his skull and exposed his meninges. It was posted on a site something akin to extreme body modification. *shudders*
  • This article started to lose me at "try and cure" and lost me at "brian surgery." Whoever Brian is, I'm relieved that nobody's operating on him. SMT, I've heard of the sort of thing you describe. If it's what I'm thinking of it's not a lobotomy, but a procedure its supporters believe increases blood flow to, and therefor function of, the brain. I remember seeing an interview with Hugh Grant in which he said his aunt had done it.
  • Trepanation?