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Limits RegistryOn 12 August 1865, Joseph Lister at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary treated 11-year-old James Greenlees's compound leg fracture with carbolic-acid (phenol) dressings; the wound healed without infection. Lister published his antiseptic method in The Lancet in 1867, and post-operative mortality on his wards fell dramatically.
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On 12 August 1865, Joseph Lister at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary treated 11-year-old James Greenlees's compound leg fracture with carbolic-acid (phenol) dressings; the wound healed without infection. Lister published his antiseptic method in The Lancet in 1867, and post-operative mortality on his wards fell dramatically.
The year in which a surgeon first deliberately applied a chemical antiseptic to a wound to prevent infection, based on germ theory.
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Permanent ID limitsregistry.com/limits/LR-FIRST-ANTISEPTIC-SURGERY
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Limits Registry. LR-FIRST-ANTISEPTIC-SURGERY. First use of antiseptic surgical technique. 2026.