Medical herbs: from the ancient Egyptian wound treatment to the current intelligent bandages

Fehér, Daniella and Petrovics, Alica and Blázovics, Anna and Ferencz, Andrea and Győry, Hedvig (2022) Medical herbs: from the ancient Egyptian wound treatment to the current intelligent bandages. In: Aegyptus et Pannonia VII. Magyar-Egyiptomi Baráti Társaság, Ókori Egyiptomi Bizottság, Budapest, pp. 129-174. ISBN 9786156571014

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Abstract

Traditional herbs have been used in medicine for thousands of years. Descriptions have survived on several ancient Egyptian papyri, among them one surgical book. The Smith papyrus forms a basis for today’s wound care, with its precise formulations and methodology on its recto (front) side. The cases are all injuries, treated in a traditional way. Studying them, we diff erentiated two development stages. The earlier, simpler one contained no herbal ingredient, while the later one, with prescriptions Sm41 and Sm46, had several herbal drugs, distried in three or four phases. Medical herbs have been used in wound management for debridement, creation of an advantageous environment to encourage the natural healing process and speed up the recovery. Most of the herbal drugs are also employed nowadays for practical uses, thus many aspects of modern medicine can be described as a refi ned version of ancient Egyptian knowledge. We also looked for wound management in the GraecoRoman period, comparing drug usage, and identifi ed many changes. This paper also compares ancient Egyptian bandaging used for the care of wounds and their cleaning methods, with modern wound dressing in order to shed light on both shared and distinct concepts.

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