Gusii - Trepanation

Gusii trepanation - Case Two


Original caption reads: Case two. Vertex of head in a surviving patient, showing extensive granulation within the area of a cruciate scalp incision. Note also, on the man's chest, "medicine cuts", with keloid formation [Jens' note: yes I know, the photo quality is awful]. Medicine cuts are skin incisions in which protective or therapeutic magical or herbal substances have been rubbed. In this case they had nothing to do with the trepanation procedure. Kisii, Kenya. Photograph: Margetts, 1958.

Credit: "Trepanation of The Skull by The Medicine-men of Primitive Cultures, With Particular Reference to Present-day Native East African Practice", by Edward Lambert Margetts (in Proceedings of the Third World Congress of Psychiatry, Montreal, Canada (4-10 June 1961). University of Toronto Press/McGill University Press, Vol.II, 1962). Extracts published on the internet by the International Trepanation Advocacy Group (ITAG), from where this image was taken.

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