The Wood Library-Museum

Yankauer Masks

The masks pictured from left to right are a Yankauer Mask, a Yankauer-Gwathmey Mask, and a modified Yankauer-Gwathmey mask. Sidney Yankauer, M.D. (1872-1932), an ear, nose and throat specialist and pioneer in bronchoscopy, practiced at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Dr. Yankauer might best be known for the tube he designed for suctioning the mouth and throat. Yankauer introduced the wire-mesh anesthesia mask around 1904.

James Tayloe Gwathmey, M.D. (1862-1944) was one of the first physicians to have a full-time private anesthesia practice in the United States. By 1914, he modified the Yankauer Mask to administer oxygen with the anesthetic. Oxygen tubing attached to the port at the narrow end of the mask, and oxygen exited through the small holes around the rim. This design was a continuation of his earlier Folding Vapor Mask. The Yankauer-Gwathmey mask was very popular in the U.S. for the drop method of anesthesia. The drop method involved placing the mask over the patient’s nose and mouth, and then placing gauze over the mesh of the mask. Next, liquid anesthetic, such as ether or chloroform, was applied in drops or lightly poured onto the gauze so that the patient breathed in evaporated anesthetic as well as air.

The content on this Wood Library-Museum website reflects historical uses of objects and materials and may not reflect current medical practice. The content should not be relied upon in any manner as medical advice.