The first cataract surgery

Abstract

SummaryThe couching technique was the predominant procedure to surgically remove cataracts until the 18th century, when Jacques Daviel introduced the extracapsular technique of extraction. The exact time of couching introduction is unknown, although Sushruta has been pointed for many years as its pioneer and the one who firstly described it. However, the first clear mention of this procedure comes from non‐ophthalmologist, the Greek stoic Chrysippus in the third century BC. There is no proof that cataract surgery was performed in ancient Egypt, although our present knowledge on ancient Egypt medicine is rather scarce. Sushruta also described the technique of extraocular evacuation of cortical masses with Valsalva maneuver, and later in the Middle Ages, some Arab physicians tried to aspirate the opaque lens by means of a glass tube following a paracentesis.