Existing comment:
Healing:
A considerable degree of success in trephination surgeries is proven by the fact that many of the skulls show some degree of healing in the wound. In the San Diego Museum of Man collection, more than half of the specimens show signs of advanced healing. This may be an exceptional proportion for aboriginal American trephination, since the region in Peru where most of the specimens were found is one where the procedure was especially well developed.
Trephined openings with no healing reveal a sharply cut edge or an abraded edge with no signs of change in the bone from such causes as inflammation or infection. Partial healing may show in bony changes such as new or fibrous bone. Scratch marks, probably from incising the scalp, may still be apparent, as well as fracture lines near the opening. In a well-healed trephination, the bone has consolidated and the diploe (the porous layer between the inner and outer tables) is no longer apparent, as resorption has taken place.
There has been speculation about the possibility that Peruvian surgeons placed some type of plate over the trephine wound in order to protect the exposed brain. This may have been done in rare instances, but it was not common. In small trephinations, regeneration of bone would probably have at least partially filled the opening in time. However, bone will not bridge the gap of large openings, so once the scalp has healed over the hole, a "soft spot" will remain with the individual. |