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80 Times The Human Body Surprised And Horrified Medical Professionals
Why are some of us so compelled to stare at unsettling photos and videos of things that we'd prefer not to see in real life? A bloody scene from Grey's Anatomy, or a putrid peek at Dr. Pimple Popper squeezing pus-filled blemishes. It's like we can't help ourselves, even if our stomachs are churning.
Some scientists believe it's because viewing such content from a safe distance allows us to be both disgusted and curious at the same time. Both are evolutionary feelings. And both can protect us. But more on that later...
First, we're going to test your ability hold down your breakfast while scrolling through some rather unsettling medical images. From a really creepy-looking medical dummy, to an x-ray of a brain after a piece has been removed... Bored Panda has put together a list of "look away but not quite yet" medical photographs shared by people online. Each image tells its own story, and all provide a window into a world that we wouldn't ordinarily see.
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#1
A Doctor’s Letter To United Heathcare For Denying Nausea Medication To A Child On Chemotherapy
RELATED:
#2
An Artist Is Doing A Really Cool Thing By Painting Baby's Medical Helmets
#3
My Adhd Medication Came With A Fidget Toy
#4
This Is The First Complete Nervous System Ever Dissected - 1887
Her name is Harriett and she was a maid employed at drexel university college of medicine, now the medical college of pennsylvania. She wished to dedicate her body to science.
#5
Ducklings Being Used In Medical Therapy, 1956
Feathered Dinosaur 1 year ago
This child was suffering from polio. A disease we almost wiped out with vaccines. Which will return, because idiot parents (who were immunized themselves) deny their children vaccinations
#6
I Had A Brain Tumor Removed, And Now I’m A Bit Absent Minded
#7
Fish Skin Is Being Used To Help Treat Burn Victims
This treatment for severe burns is an unorthodox procedure they can ease the pain of victims and cut medical costs. The skin substitute reduces inflammation and help to heal chronic wounds (E.G. Diabetic wounds).
#8
These Medical Cloves Designed For Medical Emergency Response
Doodles1983 1 year ago
Top to bottom. GCS Glasgow Coma Score. Basically how awake and responsive the person is. HR Heart Rate/Pulse rate. BP Blood Pressure. RR Respiratory Rate (number of breaths per min. SpO2. Concentration of oxygen in your blood. Temp is body temperature. D***s. Any meds given during the patient contact.
#9
Medical Chest I Found In My Grandfathers Attic
#10
This White "Soap" Is The First 3D Printed Bionic Pancreas
#11
Perfectly Lined Up Sternotomy Sealing, The Surgeon Is Amazing
Margaret Wartime 1 year ago
Love it when surgeons take the time to preserve body art 🥰❤️ they know how much our tattoos can mean to us
#12
An Identity Thief Stole The Identity Of A Surgeon And While Aboard A Navy Destroyer Was Tasked With Performing Several Life Saving Surgeries
He proceeded to memorize a medical textbook just before hand and all the patients survived.
#13
Uncle's Eye Healed After Corneal Transplant Surgery
#14
A Doctor’s Office On My Delivery Route Has A Real Ww1 Medical Kit Framed Up On The Wall
#15
X-Ray Of A Hand With Advanced Rheumatoid Arthiritis
#16
The Amount Of Medication I Have To Take In A Week After A Kidney Transplant
Lene Leth Winterberg 1 year ago
That’s NOTHING. I had to take 28 pills in the morning and 26 at night for a year after my liver transplant. Now I’m down to 5 in the morning and 3 at nights. That’s not counting my 7-8 pain killers a day because of aftermath with cronic stomach pains. But I don’t care 😁 I’m alive and my liver is as healthy as a normal persons 😁 That’s my incredible gift of life given to me at the age of 40 from a complete stranger ❤️ A gift of the miracle of life ❤️
#17
Testing Davinci Surgical Robot On Operation Game
Joshua David 1 year ago
My husband had prostate surgery in 2010 with a robot and he healed without the side effects that can happen from having it removed.
#18
Thought You All Might Appreciate My Uncommon Stitches
#19
This Device To Help Medical Professionals Find Veins. The Veinviewer
Colleen Glim 1 year ago
Finding them is only half the battle. Successfully sticking them with the needle is the hard part. I have horrible veins
#20
Before & After A Total Spinal Fusion
#21
Obsidian Knives Made From A Type Of Volcanic Glass Are So Sharp They Cut On A Cellular Level
Due to this, when used in the medical field, incisions made with the blade heal faster with less scarring. They have been used as tools since the stone age.
Soton_Sherpa 1 year ago
IIRC, They were so sharp that they were banned because surgeons could cut themselves without knowing and either infect the patient or become infected themselves.
#22
In My Head, The Screws From My Spinal Fusion Surgery Looked A Lot Smaller
Colleen Glim 1 year ago
Have my own set of these. Can agree this is what they look like on xray
#23
This Condition Is Called Mirror Hand Syndrome, Less Than 100 Cases Have Ever Been Diagnosed And The Cause Is Still Unknown
Soton_Sherpa 1 year ago
Genuine question, are all of the fingers usable? Can some medical Panda explain?
#24
The Monthly Dosage Of Medication Necessary For My Survival
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
OP has cystic fibrosis. While this is an intense amount of meds (and OP probably has to do breathing therapy and use a chest-thumper to loosen and dislodge mucus buildup), it's amazing how far medical technology has progressed. People with CF used to die in childhood/their teens - very rarely did a person with CF live to adulthood. Now, with proper treatment, people with CF can live near-normal lifespans - the median life expectancy is ~60 now. However, it is a chronic illness that deeply affects one's quality of life in many ways - so it's not an easy thing to live with, even with medical advances.
#25
This Is A UV Light Used In Hospitals To Decontaminate Rooms That Were Occupied By Patients With Particularly Resistant Bacteria Or Bugs
Yrral Spavit 1 year ago
Any hint of anything infectious on the cancer ward and they would deep clean the room and roll these in for several hours.
#26
My (Nearly 60 Y/O) Fathers Arm After Being Thwomped By A Cow This Morning
#27
The Medical Pathology Museum At Tokyo University Has A Collection Of 105 Full-Bodied Tattoo Skins
#28
There's A Tooth In My Chin
Uncle Panda 1 year ago
I have one just like that but didn't know until dental x-rays began to wrap around the front. Doc looked at me and said, "You have a supernumerary tooth!" Me (decoding) - "You mean 'extra?'" "Yes, but we charge more for supernumerary."
#29
My Grandmother's Student Medical Kit From 1925
#30
Finger Infected. Thermal Imaging Confirms
#31
Asteroid Hyalosis Is A Medical Condition In Which The Person's Eyes Look Like The Universe
#32
The Body Of A Gymnast While Preforming A Trick
#33
Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs Have A Milky Blue Blood. Each Year, Millions Of Crabs Are Captured, Bled And Released
The blood is used in almost all pharmaceutical vaccines, one of which being a Covid-19 vaccine.
#34
Strands Of DNA Precipitated By Ethanol. About 3 Trillion Of Them
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 1 year ago
I’ve done this in class! It’s really cool. You can actually see all the strings.
#35
Patient Got Bit By A Stray Dog, And This Is His Rabies Vaccine And Immune Globulin Set Up
#36
My Dog And I Are Taking The Same Medication
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
My dog Stilgar takes Keppra - a common anti-epileptic/anti-convulsion medication that is usually used for humans with epilepsy/other seizure disorders XD He takes it because he has myoclonus (constant, uncontrollable muscle twitches of his full body) and it helps lower the severity of his twitching.
#37
Doctors Find 27 Contact Lenses Stuck In 67-Year-Old Woman’s Eye
#38
My Sister Teaches Nursing Students How To Do Medical Procedures. Here Is One Of Their Practice Dummies
Colleen Glim 1 year ago
I didn’t actually want to sleep tonight. Maybe this isn’t the best thread to be reading before bed?
#39
Münchmeyer Disease Is A Disorder In Which Muscle Tissue And Connective Tissue Such As Tendons And Ligaments Are Gradually Replaced By Bone
It is the only known medical condition where one organ system changes into another.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
Also known as fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva. It is a severe, disabling disorder that does not have a cure. It essentially can cause limbs/joints to "freeze" in place as the connective tissue and ligaments turn to bone :(
#40
Went To Get A Scan For Practicing Medical Students (I Was A Volunteer Modle)
Didn't Expect To See I Have A Condition Where My Hearts Artery And Vein Has Been Flipped To The Opposite Sides Of Each Other At Birth, Which Is Apparently Rare.
Margaret Wartime 1 year ago
I have a retroverted uterus! (Tilted backwards rather than forwards). It’s not super rare but not super common either. Doesn’t really mean anything, it’s not a medical issue, just a fun fact I learned during my last pelvic exam 😅
#42
In Certain Cultures, Wounds Were Sutured Using Ants, Especially Army Or Leaf-Cutter Species
These ants would be positioned to clamp the skin edges with their jaws. Once they bit down, the body of the ant would be cut off, leaving the head to act as a stitch.
#43
Just Cleanly Removed The Entire Nerve From My Patient’s Tooth (On Purpose)
#44
Triphalangeal Thumb (TPT) Is A Congenitalmalformation Where The Thumb Has Three Phalanges Instead Of Two
The extra phalangeal bone can vary in size from that of a small pebble to a size comparable to the phalanges in non-thumb digits.
#45
My Cat’s Medication Says Not To Drink Alcohol With It
#46
This Medication Causes Birth Defects And They Don’t Want You To Forget
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
Accutane - medication to treat severe acne. My mom forced me to take it when I was a young teen - she was trying to force me to become a child acting star and pimples would detract from my appearance. Accutane also causes sun sensitivity and can dry out your skin horribly.
#47
One Of Four Intact Human Nervous Systems, This Was Dissected By 2 Medical Students In 1925 — And It Took Them Over 1,500 Hours To Remove
#48
Bungee Cord To The Eye Caused Man's Iris To Collapse Into Multiple Deformed Pupils
Disgruntled Pelican 1 year ago
"Bungee cord to the eye" was not a statement I ever thought I'd read.
#49
As Photography Became More Common, An Odd Tradition Emerged — Medical Students Taking Pictures With Their Cadavers As Sort Of A First Portrait Into The Medical Field
A common trope at the time was that of “A Student’s Dream” — where the medical student was being dissected by his cadavers.
#50
Three Kidneys Discovered In A Man! - Medical Case
#51
Specialist Dentist Said I Had Some Of The Longest Teeth He’s Ever Removed
#52
WW1 Canadian Battlefield Medical Kit
#53
An X-Ray Of A Hand With Six Fingers
#54
Dupuytren's Contracture Symptoms
Dupuytren contracture is a painless condition that causes one or more fingers to bend toward the palm of the hand. The affected fingers can't straighten completely. Knots of tissue form under the skin. They eventually create a thick cord that can pull the fingers into a bent position.
#55
Stingray Tail, Extracted From Patient After Accident, Nz
#56
A Peanut Lodged Inside A Child's Trachea
#57
Sterile #2 Pencils In The Operating Room
#58
My Friend's Skin Graft After Healing
#59
My Dissection Kit For Working On Human Cadavers In Medical School
#60
Doctors From The Texas Heart Institute Have Performed A Surgery Implementing A Device That Left A Man Becoming The World's First Heartless Human Leaving Him Without A Pulse Or Detectable Heart Beat
#61
$8,500 Worth Of Medical Equipment In The Us. My Son Needs These To Walk
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
AFOs (I just realised I don't know what that stands for). Very important for making sure people's feet/legs don't become mis-shapen when they have conditions like cerebral palsey. They should not be this expensive!
#62
My Medication Is So Strictly Controlled That It Has A Battery Powered Tracking Tag
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
OP on Reddit says: "The medication being shipped is a form of sodium oxybate, AKA 'GHB', AKA 'roofies.' It is a schedule 3 medication while legally possessed and is a schedule 1 medication otherwise. Only a few pharmacies can dispense it. The strict tracking is a DEA requirement. This medication helps me get more restorative sleep. People with narcolepsy have bad sleep quality that does not provide the usual restorative benefits. We never wake up feeling refreshed. It isn't insomnia as much as it is never really falling/staying asleep enough to get rest. This lack of beneficial sleep causes excessive daytime sleepiness and exacerbates cataplexy. I have been taking daily stimulants for over 20 years. I resorted to this medication when the stimulants' effectiveness waned. Hopefully this will give me enough beneficial sleep to bring me back into the effective range of the stimulants."
#63
This Is A Condition Called Hyperdontia
#64
My TPN (Nutrition Pumped Into My Heart) Has Olive Oil And Egg In It
Upstaged75 1 year ago
TPN does NOT go in to the heart. It goes in the bloodstream and bypasses the digestive system.
#65
1915 Medical Text Classifying People With Mental Disabilities
#66
My Father Was An Eye Doctor And Those Are The Glass Eye Prosthesis He Would Show The Patients
#67
2 Hair Follicles Grown In Eye Caused By Limbal Dermoid
#68
Vintage Medical Tools For Removing Kidney And Bladder Stones And The Stones That They Removed
martymcmatrix 1 year ago
Looks like they were shot out...my grandpa had his bladder and kidney stones on display in a cupboard...he peed them out naturally which is probably as painful as getting them removed with these tools...⛏️ 🪨 🔨
#69
This Medication I Take Is $6000 Per An Injection
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
Taltz - used to treat psoriasis and several other autoimmune disorders.
#70
When My Son Was Born He Had A Knot In His Umbilical Cord
#71
Itemized Hospital Bill From When My Dad Was Born In 1954
#72
The Colors Of Disposable Lab Coats Available From The Supplier My Hospital Uses
#74
In The United States, This Is What $14,714.49 Of Medication Looks Like
martymcmatrix 1 year ago
However - for this ammount of money -wearing examination gloves should be mandatory...🧤
#75
An Incredible Medical Projector
Rebecca O’Donnell 1 year ago
Tap on the name on the bottom left of the picture to see the video!
#76
Neovascular Festoons On The Iris
A 74-year-old man with hypertension presented with vision reduced to only light perception in his right eye. A relative afferent pupillary defect was observed, and retinal examination showed an occlusion of the central retinal vein. The abnormal pupillary response was caused by retinal ischemia. A hypoperfused retina exudes angiogenic factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). New vessels formed on the pupil (Panels A and B show low and high magnification, respectively) and also in the angle, the aqueous drainage system that surrounds the iris. Angiogenesis in the angle can occlude the drainage pathway, causing glaucoma and the complication of a painful, sightless eye. Regression of iris neovasculature was achieved with the use of intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy and maintained with the use of scatter laser photocoagulation of the ischemic retina. The patient's vision in the affected eye remained unchanged, and hypertension was the risk factor associated with this ocular vascular occlusion. Owing to the severity of disease at baseline, there was no visual improvement.
#77
My Medicine Tells Me That It Doesn't Work
#78
To Study The Medical Effects Of Weightlessness In Space, Scientists Convinced Captain Druey P. Parks To Toss A Kitten In The Air While Cruising In His F-94c Jet At An Altitude Of 25,000 Feet
The following photo, taken in February 1958, captures the floating feline.
#79
Veneers Preparation
Jumping Jellyfishes 1 year ago
Why would anyone do this to what appears to be perfectly good teeth?!
#80
Dandy-Walker Syndrome
It is a condition that develops due to congenital failure of cerebellar vermis development that leads to blockage of CSF circulation. Clinical features include bulging fontanelle, irritability, vomiting ,poor feeding and lethargy.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
This baby does not have Dandy-Walker Syndrome. This baby has microhydranencephaly - a VERY different condition. Microhydranencephaly is a severe abnormality of brain development - most children born with this condition have smaller-than-normal heads/brains and are profoundly intellectually disabled. This child was named Jaxon Buell. He died aged 5 years old.
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Rebecca O’Donnell 1 year ago
Thank you, Donata Ruzgaite. I was totally fascinated and grossed out at the same time. More, please :)
Alex Boyd 1 year ago
Yeah, I wonder why those are so much more disconcerting than others. I'm thinking especially of the mirror hand and the one with three bones in the thumbs. I'm sure if you knew the person you'd get used to it pretty quick, but on first glance I found those very unsettling.
Load More Replies... Rebecca O’Donnell 1 year ago
Thank you, Donata Ruzgaite. I was totally fascinated and grossed out at the same time. More, please :)
Alex Boyd 1 year ago
Yeah, I wonder why those are so much more disconcerting than others. I'm thinking especially of the mirror hand and the one with three bones in the thumbs. I'm sure if you knew the person you'd get used to it pretty quick, but on first glance I found those very unsettling.
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