page_title: Ophthalmology
section_title: 18th–19th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Ophthalmology / Notable ophthalmologists / 18th–19th centuries
caption_attribution_description: Swedish physician and ophtalmologist Allvar Gullstrand (1852-1930)
context_page_description: Ophthalmology is a branch of medicine and surgery which deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in ophthalmology. The credentials include a degree in medicine, followed by additional four to five years of ophthalmology residency training. Ophthalmology residency training programs may require a one-year pre-residency training in internal medicine, pediatrics, or general surgery. Additional specialty training may be sought in a particular aspect of eye pathology. Ophthalmologists are allowed to use medications to treat eye diseases, implement laser therapy, and perform surgery when needed. Ophthalmologists may participate in academic research on the diagnosis and treatment for eye disorders.
context_section_description: Theodor Leber discovered Leber's congenital amaurosis, Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, Leber's miliary aneurysm, and Leber's stellate neuroretinitis.
  Carl Ferdinand von Arlt (1812–1887), the elder (Austrian), proved that myopia is largely due to an excessive axial length, published influential textbooks on eye disease, and ran annual eye clinics in needy areas long before the concept of volunteer eye camps became popular. His name is still attached to some disease signs, e.g., von Arlt's line in trachoma. His son Ferdinand Ritter von Arlt, the younger, was also an ophthalmologist.
  Jacques Daviel (France) claimed to be the founder of modern cataract surgery in that he performed cataract extraction instead of needling the cataract or pushing it back into the vitreous. He is said to have carried out the technique on 206 patients in 1752–53, of which 182 were reported to be successful. These figures are not very credible, given the total lack of both anaesthesia and aseptic technique at that time.
  Franciscus Donders (1818–1889) (Dutch) published pioneering analyses of ocular biomechanics, intraocular pressure, glaucoma, and physiological optics. He made possible the prescribing of combinations of spherical and cylindrical lenses to treat astigmatism.
  Joseph Forlenze (1757–1833) (Italy), specialist in cataract surgery, became popular during the First French Empire, healing, among many, personalities such as the minister Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis and the poet Ponce Denis Lebrun. He was nominated by Napoleon "chirurgien oculiste of the lycees, the civil hospices and all the charitable institutions of the departments of the Empire". He was known also for his free interventions, mainly in favour of poor people.
  Albrecht von Graefe (1828–1870) (Germany) Along with Helmholtz and Donders, one of the 'founding fathers' of ophthalmology as a specialty. He was a brilliant clinician and charismatic teacher who had an international influence on the development of ophthalmology, and was a pioneer in mapping visual field defects and diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma. He introduced a cataract extraction technique that remained the standard for over 100 years, and many other important surgical techniques such as iridectomy. He rationalised the use of many ophthalmically important drugs, including mydriatics and miotics. He also was the founder of one of the earliest ophthalmic societies (German Ophthalmological Society, 1857) and one of the earliest ophthalmic journals (Graefe's Archives of Ophthalmology). He was probably the most important ophthalmologist of the 19th century.
  Allvar Gullstrand (Sweden) was a Nobel Prize-winner in 1911 for his research on the eye as a light-refracting apparatus. He described the 'schematic eye', a mathematical model of the human eye based on his measurements known as the 'optical constants' of the eye. His measurements are still used today.
  Hermann von Helmholtz, a great German polymath, invented the ophthalmoscope (1851) and published important work on physiological optics, including colour vision (1850s).
  José Rizal (Philippines) was a polymath who inspired the Philippine Revolution with his writings.
  Julius Hirschberg (Germany) in 1879 became the first to use an electromagnet to remove metallic foreign bodies from the eye and in 1886 developed the Hirschberg test for measuring strabismus.
  Peter Adolph Gad (1846 – 1907), Danish ophthalmologist who founded the first eye infirmary in São Paulo, Brazil.
  Socrate Polara (1800–1860, Italy) founded the first dedicated ophthalmology clinic in Sicily in 1829, entirely as a philanthropic endeavor; later he was appointed as the first director of the ophthalmology department at the Grand Hospital of Palermo, Sicily, in 1831 after the Sicilian government became convinced of the importance of state support for the specialization.
  Herman Snellen (Netherlands) introduced the Snellen chart to study visual acuity.
caption: Allvar Gullstrand
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