▲ 12 r/AskHistorians
[TW: Self-harm] Is there any history of cutting in a self-harm context before the advent of antibiotics?
Apologies if this has been asked before, but I can't find anything about it when I search here or elsewhere. Until the mid-20th century and the advent of antibiotics, it was not uncommon that a simple cut could cause runaway infections. Did that mean people who self-harmed with cuttng were aware of Russian Roulette-style stakes, and was that part of its compulsion? What was the medical interface with the compulsion in a time of infective prevention-or-bust?
u/migrainedujour — 14 hours ago