Surgery Facts

Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button.

Surgeons who listen to music during operations perform better than those who don't .

The human brain is insensitive to pain.

In 1961, the only surgeon in the Soviet Antarctic Expedition, Leonid Rogozov, removed his own inflamed appendix under local anesthesia.

Catgut comes from sheep not cats.

When Andre the Giant needed back surgery in the 1980s, doctors faced an unprecedented challenge calculating his anesthesia dosage. Standard weight-based formulas didn't account for his gigantism and extraordinary alcohol tolerance. Andre reportedly told them, 'It usually takes two liters of vodka just to make me feel warm inside,' which doctors actually used as a reference point alongside his body mass to determine the appropriate dose.

A 22-year-old Chinese man needed a new nose after losing his original in a traffic accident. Instead of a traditional transplant, surgeons grew a replacement nose on his forehead using cartilage from his ribs.