Wiseman, like Paré, learnt his surgery on the battlefield. On his return to civilian practice in London he became the first consultant surgeon, only treating patients referred to him. Increasing ill-health allowed him time to write and the resulting Severall Chirurgicall Treatises describes over 600 of his own cases. It is a more detailed and personal account than any written by his contemporaries, and his sections on the King's Evil and cancer show a remarkable understanding of disease for his time. Wiseman raised the status of British surgery very considerably, his work having a great influence well into the 18th century.