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I've seen in numerous movies that after a person gets beaten up in a fight they place a chunk of raw meat on their face. I found this link making reference to the practice and this one claiming it's a myth (though I have no regards for the validity of the website). My questions are:

  1. Was there ever a time when applying raw meat to some sort of external injury was common?
  2. What type of meat was used?
  3. According to current medical research is it safe to use this treatment?
Ken Y-N
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Celeritas
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1 Answers1

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The answer to your question title is no.

The act of putting raw meat on a bruise comes from Hollywood and cartoons, and it usually is adopted when you have a black eye, rather than just any bruise. But what works is the cold factor of the frozen meat and not the meat itself, since cold naturally constrains blood vessels and helps reducing the swelling.

In fact, using meat could even be dangerous because you might cause an infection.

This is always strongly discouraged, for example on the page for First Aid on About.com:

Never put raw meat on a black eye. There is a first aid myth that putting steak on a black eye will help it heal faster. It will not. In fact, putting raw meat on a black eye is more likely to cause an infection (see E coli).

And also on Geteyesmart1:

[...] Despite what you see in movies or on television, you should never put a raw steak or other raw meat on a black eye. The bacteria on raw meat poses a high risk of infection, and this method of treating a black eye has no scientific basis.

A frozen bag of veggies would likely be cleaner than raw meat, but an even better solution would be using ice packs for medical use or cold compresses.

1: American Academy of Ophthalmology Launches Expanded GetEyeSmart.org, a Trusted Source for Eye Health Information. Source

Alenanno
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  • Where does the myth come from, though? I think this predates Hollywood. – Konrad Rudolph Mar 20 '14 at 09:39
  • @KonradRudolph My impression is that, in times where there were less resources, home remedies were the usual approach to problems. And if you think about it a lot of the people that are old now used to do/see it as kids, so that reflected on the cartoon/Hollywood creations. Should I try to research this and back it up in my answer? – Alenanno Mar 20 '14 at 09:43
  • *Even if just eating is mentioned here, the risk of infection is also likely to occur in circumstances like applying it on wounds or a black eye.* - I think this needs a reference – Chad Mar 20 '14 at 19:35
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    @Chad Aren't the already available sources enough? They refer to the same thing basically. – Alenanno Mar 20 '14 at 19:49
  • @Alenanno - If you want to delete that sentence then sure... if you want to keep that claim in there you need a source. Actually you probably need a source for the claim that the peas(or veggies) are likely cleaner than the raw meat to... – Chad Mar 20 '14 at 19:50
  • Nice reply. Why do you put a small 1 beside `Geteysmart` which already has a link and then at the body provide a link to the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a different link? – Celeritas Mar 20 '14 at 21:58
  • @Chad Uhmm I'm not sure I agree with you there, but I'll see if I can do something about it. – Alenanno Mar 20 '14 at 22:03
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    @Celeritas The link at the bottom is there to show that the site `Geteyesmart` is reliable enough since the AAO supports it. – Alenanno Mar 20 '14 at 22:04
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    @Alenanno - I agree that site is enough to answer the question. You could simply remove everything after it and have a valid answer. Though if you can support those last two claims its a much better and stronger answer – Chad Mar 20 '14 at 22:09
  • @Chad I have removed the one about the "eating" part (didn't find anything not ambiguous specifically for it) and fixed the other wording. Now it should work. – Alenanno Mar 21 '14 at 22:27
  • One reason why meat may have been used in movies is that it looks good on screen. An ice pack or a cold compress have a shape that is hard to discern: it's too generic. The meat slab is instantly recognisable and therefore would not puzzle the audience. – eje211 Mar 23 '14 at 08:36
  • @eje211 But I think the origin is more like "homemade remedies" which then entered the movies. But well... :D – Alenanno Mar 23 '14 at 14:44
  • The use of meat specifically may have more to do with the availability of _something cold_ - refrigerators and cooling chemical reactions are common now, but not so much when this was in larger effect. If you just have an icebox, you don't really want to remove the ice from it. If you don't have an icebox, the butcher probably does; raw meat is one of the few things that require such measures for long-term storage. Fruits/veggies/grains store well in cellars, dairy/eggs are available mostly year-round, etc. – Clockwork-Muse Mar 24 '14 at 05:46
  • @Clockwork-Muse Yeah, that's probably the origin and no wonder than it then became a sort of common theme. – Alenanno Mar 24 '14 at 08:07
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    Another possible reason for meat (versus something else from the fridge): It is soft and can form comfortably around a wound and not cause any extra pain from pressure. On the other hand, frozen meat is hard while (a bag of) frozen peas is soft. (That was actually my first thought on seeing the question -- after "no, don't do it" that is.) – Martin F Mar 25 '14 at 17:54