First illustrations of female "Neurosurgeons" in the fifteenth century by Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu

Abstract

Males have dominated medicine for many centuries. Females could not appear in the medical history equally till the end of the 18(th) century; although they always have been in medicine as healers. It is worth mentioning that first illustrations indicating female surgeons were found in the book written in Turkish by Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu in the 15(th) century; while Europe was newly waking up from its dark ages and Middle East was under the influence of strict rules of Arabic and Islamic culture. Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu (1385-1470) was the author of the first illustrated surgical textbook Cerrahiyyetu'l-Haniyye (Imperial surgery) in Turkish Literature.