Aspiration of cataract in 1815 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Leffler, Christopher T.; Letocha, Charles E.; Pierson, K. Kendall; Schwartz, Stephen G.

doi:10.5693/djo.01.2017.10.001

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…il ī of Cairo. 289 However, in the Christian world, it was held that congenital blindness could only be healed with a miracle. This belief stemmed from the story of Jesus curing a man born blind: "Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind" (John 9:32).…”

Section: • Cataract Surgeons and Oculists In Ireland (From 1684)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The First Cataract Surgeons in the British Isles

Leffler

Schwartz

Peterson

et al. 2021

American Journal of Ophthalmology

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To describe the entry of cataract surgery into the British Isles. • METHODS: Handbills, books, and other historical sources were reviewed to determine when cataract surgery was first performed in the region. • RESULTS: Roman artifacts suggest that couching was performed in the British Isles in antiquity. Seemingly miraculous cures of blindness during the early Middle Ages might be consistent with couching. However, there is no strong evidence of medieval cataract surgery in the region. Cataract couching probably arrived in England by the 1560s, in Scotland by 1595, in Ireland by 1684, and in Anglo-America by 1751. Before the 18th century, cataract surgery was taught within families, apprenticeships, and mountebank troupes. Beginning in the 17th century, congenital cataract surgery permitted surgeons to tout their skills and to explore visual perception. However, in some cases, such as the couching of the 13-yearold Daniel Dolins by surgeon William Cheselden in 1727, whether the cataracts were truly congenital, and whether vision improved in any way, remain in doubt. Beginning in the 1720s, cataract surgery began to be performed by traditional surgeons in hospitals. However, for most of the century, the highest-volume cataract surgeons continued to be itinerant oculists, including those who performed cataract extraction in the latter half of the century. • CONCLUSIONS: Cataract surgery might have been performed in Roman Britain. Specific evidence of cataract surgery emerges in the region in the Elizabethan era. Cataract extraction was performed in the British Isles by 1753, but couching remained popular throughout the 18th century.

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Section: • Cataract Surgeons and Oculists In Ireland (From 1684)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The First Cataract Surgeons in the British Isles

Leffler

Schwartz

Peterson

et al. 2021

American Journal of Ophthalmology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Cataract surgery by aspiration was reintroduced in the west in 1815 by Philip Syng Physick of Philadelphia. He successfully aspirated the cataract of an attorney named Francis B. Shaw, who was able to return to the practice of law for at least 14 years (176). Physick had performed the surgery on one other patient by early 1816.…”

Section: Modern Cataract Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Physick's advance was not copied by other surgeons immediately. In France, Stanislas Laugier began aspirating cataracts in 1847 (176).…”

Section: Modern Cataract Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The history of cataract surgery: from couching to phacoemulsification

et al. 2020

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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 lens (or pupillary region) was compared to a lentil, and colored entoptic phenomena were noted. The sitting posture of the patient, ocular convergence towards the nose, the more systematized integration of the humoral theory with cataract surgery, and possibly blowing on the eye and putting cotton on the eye are all consistent with an Indian origin for the procedure. On the other hand, the emphasis on surgical ambidexterity could suggest an origin close to the Mediterranean. Thus, the question of where cataract surgery started has not been resolved. Various authors have suggested that multiple types of cataract surgery were practiced in the ancient and medieval periods: (I) couching, (II) discission (division), (III) aspiration through a tube, (IV) extraction through a limbal incision, and (V) expulsion of lens remnants around an embedded probe. We review the evidence in favor (and against) each of these types of surgery.

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Aspiration of cataract in 1815 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Cited by 2 publications

References 6 publications

The First Cataract Surgeons in the British Isles

The First Cataract Surgeons in the British Isles

The history of cataract surgery: from couching to phacoemulsification

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