Ophthalmological Surgeries
Ophthalmological surgeries or surgeries on the eye were performed surprisingly early in history, and some were successful at restoring vision to the eye. Other attempts were much less successful and resulted in a high mortality rate.
While there have been suggestions of cataract surgeries in both ancient Egypt and the ancient Near East, the first recorded cataract surgeries occurred in India. Around 800 BCE, the Indian surgeon Sushruta wrote about effectively performing ophthalmological surgeries, including cataract surgery. He described a number of surgical tools used for eye surgeries, as well as described a large number of eye diseases.
By the 5th century BCE, physicians in ancient Greece were surgically treating severe cataracts. The procedure, called couching, could only be performed once the cataract had fully hardened, and the zonules connecting it had weakened from its weight. A sharp tool was used to push the clouded lens out of place and down toward the bottom of the eye. This restored some amount of unfocused vision, but only around 30 percent of patients experience improved vision with light and movement. The remaining 70 percent remain or become totally blind.
A suction technique was later developed, perhaps around the 2nd century CE, and was in widespread use in the Middle East in the Middle Ages. This technique required a large incision, then suction of the lens from the eye using a tube and an individual with strong lungs.
By the middle of the 18th century, doctors were experimenting with new cataract removal techniques, including the improved extracapsular cataract extraction technique. Couching operations were still in use. Both George Frederic Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach suffered through these early attempts at cataract surgery. Bach died only a few months later.
Continued efforts were made at cataract surgery throughout the early 19th century; however, fatality rates were high, and the eye had to be left entirely stable for a period of weeks during the healing process. Modern medicine brought about successful cataract surgeries that effectively restored vision.