Who invented the syringe and the journey to improve this most important medical instrument-Lifetime health

Few people know, the first syringe was born to treat a female patient suffering from nerve pain in the face for many years.

If you have ever injected a needle, you are one of the billions of people in the world who are “indebted” to a thank you to Dr. Francis Rynd – the inventor of the syringe, a simple device but an invention. extremely important in medicine.

Who invented the syringe first?

Francis Rynd (1801-61) was once a surgeon at Meath Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, now incorporated into Tallaght Hospital. This place is known as a famous center of medical training and research. Many important innovations and inventions such as the syringe were born in this place.

Dr. Rynd.

At the time, Dr. Rynd was treating a woman who had suffered from severe pain in her face for many years due to neuralgia. She tried taking a morphine solution to relieve the pain, but it didn’t work. Dr. Rynd decided to try giving the morphine solution directly under the skin, near her facial nerve.

He designed the first hypodermic needle on June 3, 1844. He then performed the world’s first subcutaneous injection, providing his patients with a powerful local anesthetic.

Dr. Rynd’s original syringe was made of 2 medical tools: a small catheter and an instrument called a trocar. Using the trocar, he punctured the woman’s facial skin, then allowed the morphine painkiller solution to flow through the catheter and penetrate the skin. He then shared with everyone that his patient slept well for the first time in months.

Rynd’s invention quickly became widely used to treat pain. It is considered a great invention in the medical world.

In Rynd’s design, the injected substance simply flows slowly out of the catheter under the influence of gravity. But in 1853, the plunger syringe was invented, allowing doctors to inject solutions more quickly and directly into a vein. It also allows rapid blood sampling for diagnostic tests.

Thereafter, Dr. Rynd became an important figure in the Irish medical scene.

The improved journey of the syringe

Although Dr. Francis Rynd was the inventor of the syringe, many more people were involved in the improvement process.

Scottish physician Alexander Wood.

Scottish physician Alexander Wood is credited with inventing the modern subcutaneous syringe in 1853. His original purpose was to treat pain in one area of ​​the body. He attached a hollow needle to the plunger tube – an invention of earlier doctor Francis Rynd.

His first patient was a woman with cord pain sciatic nerve. This disease causes severe pain after nerve damage. The patient was injected with the painkiller morphine into the painful area. Morphin is a mixture of sherry alcohol and morphine, a powerful pain reliever.

The glass syringe was created by Dr. Alexander Wood.

Coincidentally, at that time French orthopedic surgeon, Charles Gabriel Pravaz invented the syringe at the same time. Although invented in the same year, Alexander Wood is still credited with inventing the syringe that most closely resembles today.

Charles Gabriel Pravaz’s syringe is made of silver, as opposed to glass. This means people can’t see what’s inside, making it difficult to control the amount of drug injected into the patient. The mechanism of action of the Pravaz plunger is also different from Wood’s, instead of pushing the plunger down, Pravaz’s device uses a screw.

Pravaz Syringe.

What sets this syringe apart from others in the past is its ability to inject a small, measured amount into an area without making a cut or incision in the skin first. The glass sides of the Alexander Wood syringe make it easy for the doctor to see the dose and control the amount of medicine injected. The design of the syringe has not changed much since the improved measurement section.

Depending on the intended use, syringes are made of different types of materials. In the past, syringes were made of metal and glass, which allowed them to be easily cleaned and reused. Before the invention of antiseptics, this practice was one of the causes of the spread of certain diseases.

However, once the importance of sterilizing medical instruments was discovered, needles and syringes were sterilized after each use.

Most syringes today are single-use plastic with stainless steel. This is to ensure that each syringe use is safe and non-contaminating.

Plastic syringes today.

While plastic syringes are designed for single use, in some cases when materials are in short supply, plastic syringes are reused. This can spread disease, especially hepatitis B and HIV.

In the late 1990s, syringes with a plunger design could not be pulled up after pressing down. This means they are definitely only one-time use. This syringe was invented to fight the spread of disease through the reuse of needles.