MovieChat Forums > Hans Christian Andersen (1953) Discussion > Chemotherapy boy

Chemotherapy boy

posted 11 years ago by max_demian
3 replies | jump to latest

Why did the doctor have to shave Lars' head because he was sick? No sign of brain surgery, even if such a thing was possible then. Maybe it was the only thing they could think of to make a child look 'ugly'.

[–] bethgoth17 11 years ago

I wondered about that, too. Maybe his head was shaved just so the doctor could examine it thoroughly. Or maybe it was shaved in order to slap a few leeches on there. Were leeches still in use in the 1800s?

[–] KatrinaW 10 years ago

Back in the day, if a person had an extreme fever or other serious illness, it was thought that shaving the person's head would help to reduce the fever.

[–] Piperson 10 years ago

When I was a child in the 1950's they used to shave a kid's head if he had ringworm.