I always remind myself that way back then … if you happened to cut yourself badly, there was a high likelihood that you could lose a limb or die from infection. They had treatments for stuff and they could be careful but all you needed was a chance infection (that is easily protected against today) and you could end up severely affecting your life or dying.
Even just a prick from a thorn while outside could give you tetanus, which was a super shitty way to die. People’s muscles spasmed so hard they could literally break their own bones.
Be sure to get your booster shot every 10 years!
Hell, even half of their “treatments” ended up making the problem worse or killing you even quicker
One common treatment for chickenpox was to drill a hole in the skull. Shockingly this wasn’t very helpful
But drilling a hole in your head did solve some other problems like brain swelling, so without knowing better and having no alternatives, I could see why one would try