Consultant plastic surgeon Padraic Regan, of University College Hospital Galway, has told the Sunday Tribune that he regularly uses leeches for certain operations.

And if the thought of getting up close and personal with a leech is enough to make most healthy people feel ill, even Regan admits that the use of maggots is a process he opts not to use . . . having employed the method only once in his career.

Regan explained, "Leeches are used in plastic surgery for procedures such as the re-attachment of an amputated finger.

"It is often easier to re-attach arteries than veins so a leech can be used to decongest veins. Leeches actually inject their own anaesthetic while decongesting the vein."

Before grafted tissues get new vein growth they often become congested with blood. If conventional surgery cannot mend the problem leeches are brought in.

The leech sucks out excess blood and as their saliva contains a powerful blood thinner the bleeding continues after the leech fills up and drops off.

Regan added, "We use special medical leeches that we bring in from Wales. A lot of plastic surgeons use them.

"Larvae or maggots are also used.

They come in what look like tea bags and they are occasionally used to eat away tissue on a scar. To be honest I have only used them once in my career."

Medicinal maggots are used to eat away rotting flesh on a patient's wound where antibiotics have been rendered powerless.

Leeches and maggots made medical history in America two years ago when they became the first live animals to be classified as FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved medical devices.