The history of surgical medicine is full of surprises and really quite horrifying anecdotes. In 1559, during a jousting tournament, King Henry II of France had his eye accidentally pierced by the splinters of a wooden lance. He agonised for several days, despite the efforts of his doctor, Ambroise Paré, who actually reproduced the injury on death row prisoners in an attempt to find a cure... in vain. Be thankful you live in a world of modern medicine!