The history of cataract surgery: from couching to phacoemulsification.

ABSTRACT: Where and when cataract surgery started have been a mystery. Indian tradition and the Persian author Zarrin-Dast attributed the procedure to the Indians, while pseudo-Galen suggested an Egyptian origin. Certain idiosyncratic practices are common to early Greek and Sanskrit descriptions of cataract couching, e.g., the requirement for maturity of the cataract, the preference for patients of intermediate ages, comparison of some eyes to glass, rubbing the eye, having a wide portion of the couching instrument shaft, pars-plana puncture with avoidance of the vein, and immediate vision testing. In ancient Greece and India, the words describing the color of a healthy blue eye (glaukos and nīla, respectively) could also characterize a poorly-seeing eye not curable by surgery. In both regions, the

SUBMITTER: Leffler CT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7729313 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature