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Leech Therapy

Believe it or not, one form of bloodletting uses live leeches to suck blood from the body! A leech is a parasitic worm belonging to the same family as earthworms. They look like shorter, fatter versions of earthworms. They can attach to the human skin through suckers at both ends of their body and suck blood, getting fatter as they drink your blood!

Medicinal leech also called Hirudo medicinalis

They are supposedly very efficient in sucking blood -- once attached a leech can suck several times its body weight of blood. They also secrete an anesthetic into the skin when they bite (so you don't scream in pain!) and their saliva contains anticoagulants that stop the blood from clotting. I suppose that's what makes them a popular choice for bloodletting. 

Interestingly, leech therapy was practiced all over the world and since eternity. The first documented evidence of using leeches in medicine comes from Susruta and Charaka in India around 100 CE. A century later, Galen also became a great advocate of leeching. Leeches became so popular that they started being prescribed for everything from fevers to eye diseases and urinary and reproductive issues by the Middle Ages, so much so that it apparently became an addiction in some European societies!

Medicinal jar with air holes to store leeches

Leech therapy continued to grow in popularity, persisting in various parts of the world including the U.S. The practice is not entirely dead either-- it is still used in reconstructive surgery where they can relieve congestion in veins. Leech therapy even has a medical name, hirudotherapy. Apparently, there is also a leech facial that has been tried by the likes of Miranda Kerr. 


Sources

https://www.britannica.com/science/leeching
https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/library-and-publications/library/blog/why-you-should-love-a-leech/ 

Comments

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