In the Eye of the Beholder: Sight, Illusion, and Disorder
Surgery
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The earliest documented ocular surgeon was Susruta, an Indian physician of approximately 500 B.C. who operated on clouded lenses which he depressed into the vitreous cavity. "Couching," as this procedure was called, was the only cataract operation practiced before the 18th century. In 1747, the French surgeon Jacques Daviel tried to push the cataract of M. Garion back into the vitreous. When this attempt failed, he opened the lower portion of the cornea and extracted the lens. Garion's sight was restored. Today, more than 95 percent of patients undergoing cataract surgery regain useful vision.
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9. Couching knife and needles for eye surgery (1791). Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD |
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Corneal transplant, a much newer procedure, has a success rate of 85 percent. Using a
trephine, a cylindrical instrument with a sharp circular edge, the surgeon slices a round corneal patch out of the donor eye, slightly larger than the area to be mended. The surgeon then removes the clouded or scarred portion of the patient's cornea, lowers the donor's cornea onto the patient's eye, and stitches the patch to the surrounding tissue. The instruments used in this procedure and in cataract removal can be seen in the surgical exhibit, while the operations can be seen on videotape. |
10.Instruments courtesy of Baxter
Healthcare Corporation, Deerfield, IL.
Life-sized model of a human eye,
courtesy of David Bulgarelli, lowa
Eye Prosthetics, Coralville, IA. |
11. Eye surgical tool set, circa 1900, from
the collection of Thomas A. Farrell, MD |
12. U.S. Army ophthalmologists' field kit, circa 1918, from the collection of Thomas A. Farrell, MD |
13. Eye shield, McCoy's wire.
From E. B. Meyrowitz Instrument
Catalog, 1911, p. 97. |
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