Historical Medical Treatments That Have Cheap Modern Alternatives

What It Was: Liquid cod liver oil
What It Treated: Behavior improvement
What Replaced It: Fish oil capsules 

Even today, it’s clear that there are some benefits to cod liver oil and other fish oils, but now, we have capsules. Back in the ‘40s and ‘50s, fish oil was often given out free at school to young children or prescribed by doctors to pregnant women. At the time, they believed a shot of it would help cognitive function.

Liquid Fish Oil Supplements @rita141251 / Pinterest.com

The science behind it wasn’t entirely wrong, which is why many continue to take cod liver oil tablets and supplements to this day. At least in modern times, we don’t have to put up with drinking the liquid and can just swallow it straight down.

What It Was: Electrotherapy
What It Treated: Chorea, wrist drop
What Replaced It: Medicine like DMSA

Electrotherapy is considered a dated practice that is frowned upon now, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was popular in many hospitals. Multiple medical professionals felt that the use of an electric bath was beneficial for sufferers of illnesses like chorea or lead-poisoning-related wrist drop. 

Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

The treatment itself was painless but did require them to be seated on a stool and charged with static electricity. This would often cause the patient’s hair to stand on end. Some doctors claimed to have some success, but it soon faded from view when medicine began to advance. 

What It Was: A trumpet-like amplifier
What It Treated: Hearing loss
What Replaced It: Electronic hearing aids 

Hearing aids are so commonly worn now that you may not even realize when some people are wearing them. They’re so discreet that they barely look like they’re even there. Years ago, this wasn’t the case. Before the days of electric hearing aids, these sound amplifiers were all the rage. 

Hearing Aids @owlcation / Pinterest.com

These trumpet-like instruments amplified the sound to help those hard of hearing. Needless to say, they weren’t practical and no one missed them when technology advanced. They did serve a purpose though, even if they weren’t particularly good – or aesthetically pleasing!

What It Was: A liquid “cure”
What It Treated: PMS, constipation
What Replaced It: NSAIDs, laxatives

Around 150 years ago, medicine was still evolving. The female body and temperament weren’t always held in the same regard as that of a man, which is how Dr. Kilmer’s Female Remedy came to be. Invented in the 1870s, this liquid medicine claimed to work in harmony with the female constitution. 

Dr. Kilmer's "Female Remedy" @simplelife357 / Pinterest.com

Dr. Kilmer believed his medicine could help regulate systems and purify the blood, although in reality it probably did little more than have a laxative effect thanks to its odd ingredients. These days, women (and men) can just pop to Walmart and buy a bottle of Advil to cure PMS symptoms, or a pack of laxatives if that’s the desired effect.  

What It Was: A multi-talented surgeon/barber
What It Treated: Skin ailments, hair cuts, cupping
What Replaced It: Trained medical professionals, hair stylists

Going in for a quick haircut now may mean getting pampered for half an hour, but back in the middle ages, it could mean life or death. Barber surgeons were incredibly popular back then. Not only did they trim hair and shave you, but they could remove skin infections, bleed you, and provide cupping. 

Barber-Surgeons @wikimedia / Pinterest.com

Getting a barber to remove a wart nowadays would cause them to lose their business if it went wrong, or if they were found out. Now, we have trained surgeons and medical professionals for skin ailments, but back then it was up to barber-surgeons to provide top-tier service.

What It Was: Coca-Cola with drugs in it
What It Treated: Headaches, upset stomach, fatigue
What Replaced It: Painkillers

Enjoying a cold glass of Coke these days is pretty standard for most of us, but we might just get a sugar high. Back when the beverage was first created in 1885, it was something else entirely. Described as a tonic that could improve brain function and cure all sorts of ailments including headaches, it actually contained cocaine. 

Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

At the time the drink was created, it wasn’t unusual for food items to have a small amount of the illicit drug in them. Coca-Cola underwent a lot of recipe changes in the years that followed, especially when rules and regulations came into force.

What It Was: Early prosthetic limbs
What It Treated: Amputations
What Replaced It: More comfortable, subtle prosthetic limbs 

Prosthetic limbs can totally change someone’s life, but rewind the clock and they looked a lot different from the ones we know today. Early designs of prosthetics often saw hooks on the end or other designs that were supposed to help the wearer partake in normal activities. 

Prosthetic Limbs @athleteso / Pinterest.com

However, the reality was often a lot different. Prosthetics have vastly improved over the years so wearers can do everything from running a marathon to tying their shoelaces. There are even some robotic versions. 

What It Was: The first heart monitor
What It Treated: Heart conditions
What Replaced It: Much smaller, simpler version 

EKGs can be done at a moment’s notice without much fuss at all now. But, when it was first invented, the machine was huge and cumbersome. First used at the Mount Sinai Hospital in 1909, the EKG machine was used to study abnormal heart rates and arrhythmias. 

The First EKG @moshitatumblr / Pinterest.com

The machine was big enough to take up a whole room on its own, but thanks to modern medicine they are now compact little machines that can be wheeled in and out on a small trolley. All it requires is that you sit back and relax for a few minutes while it pumps out some readings. 

What It Was: Mercury ointment
What It Treated: Skin diseases, syphilis
What Replaced It: Penicillin 

Hundreds of years ago, it was quite common to know someone that had syphilis. Not much was understood about the disease, but it certainly didn’t leave anyone looking healthy and bright. Syphilis often brought about skin problems like sores, which were commonly treated with mercury. 

Mercury to Treat Syphilis @paolahelvecia / Pinterest

Mercury ointments were thought to help the illness when in reality, they simply poisoned the sufferer. At one point, it was taken as an elixir before ointments became more fashionable. Thankfully, we have antibiotics in this day and age that can cure syphilis in its early stages.

What It Was: A bulky first aid cabinet
What It Treated: Multiple ailments
What Replaced It: More compact versions 

Nearly every home and workplace has some sort of first aid kit, but they weren’t invented until 1888. Purely by chance, Robert Wood Johnson of Johnson & Johnson happened to talk to the train’s surgeon, who explained that railway workers were often troubled by the lack of medical help when working. 

First Aid Kits @historydaily / Pinterest.com

Johnson thought on it and eventually came up with the first First Aid Kit. It was much bulkier and more of a cabinet than a cupboard-dwelling necessity. The kit had a first aid manual, several bandages, scissors, tweezers, and much more.

What It Was: A special type of mask
What It Treated: Prevented Spanish Flu
What Replaced It: Surgical masks 

The Spanish Flu pandemic ripped through the world in 1918. How we deal with outbreaks has changed somewhat since then, but looking back on the techniques used to prevent infection is interesting, to say the least. 

Spanish Flu Mask ©breadfoc / Reddit.com

There were many different types of masks, including this one that fitted snugly over the nose, but left the mouth uncovered. It doesn’t make much sense given what we know now, but medicine was still developing at this stage. Millions lost their lives during this era, even though streets were sprayed with disinfectant. 

What It Was: Tanning treatment
What It Treated: Prevented rickets
What Replaced It: Vitamins and nutrition

Rickets isn’t something anyone ever wants to get or see in a baby. We know now that it’s important to eat the right food to get plenty of vitamin D and calcium, but there was a time when doctors thought the best idea was to tan.

@messynessychic / Pinterest.com

It’s true that sunlight is important and a great source of vitamin D, but you don’t see nurses holding tanning lamps over babies in modern hospitals. Instead, we rely on nutrition, and in some cases vitamin supplements. It’s not often you see a case of rickets – or an overly tanned baby. 

What It Was: Severing tracts in the frontal lobe
What It Treated: Anxiety, psychosis
What Replaced It: Mental health treatment, medication, therapy

Lobotomies are viewed as a controversial and risky procedure now, mainly because they were very unpredictable in terms of outcomes. Doctors found that poking a sharp tool into the frontal lobe above the eye socket could make patients calmer, happier, and less depressed. 

Lobotomies @ldvanderwaals / Pinterest.com

It’s true that the study findings largely supported this, but there were huge risks, too. Some were never the same person again, while others experienced debilitating side effects like seizures and headaches. Doctors often opt for medication, therapy, and other alternative therapies now. 

What It Was: Holes drilled in the skull
What It Treated: Skull trauma, ritual, pain
What Replaced It: Certified surgery when needed 

Trepanning, aka drilling a hole in a person’s skull, has never been fully explained. We know that the practice started over 7,000 years ago and was carried on for many, many years by different cultures, but we don’t know exactly why. 

Trepanation @aleph1974 / Pinterest.com

It’s thought that some civilizations thought that it cured headaches, or that it was even done as part of a ritual. Surgeons do perform the same kind of practice today, but as part of a well-thought-out surgery with an end goal in mind. Although, they call it a craniotomy.