Glaucoma historical perspective
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Rohan Bir Singh, M.B.B.S.[2]
Historical Perspective
Glaucoma has been known in medicine since Antiquity. In Greek 'glaukos' a word appearing in the works of Homer where it seems to mean a sparkling silver glare. Later the word was used for colours such as sky-blue or green.The word entered ophthalmology when Hippocrates, in his “Aphorisms”, lists among the infirmities of the aged a condition he called “glaucosis” which he associated with “dimness of vision”.[1] The implied meaning is that of a clouded or blue-green hue of the cornea in end stage forms that may result in corneal edema and/or coinciding cataract. The Hippocratic writings make no clear distinction between cataract and glaucoma. Both Classical and Alexandrian Greeks did not recognize the specific disease which we now call glaucoma.
The definition of glaucoma has changed drastically since its introduction around the time of Hippocrates in approximately 400 BC.[1] The first recognition of a disease associated with a rise in intraocular pressure and thus corresponding to what is now known as glaucoma occurred in the Arabian writings, “Book of Hippocratic treatment”, of At-Tabari (10th century).[2] In European writings, it was Richard Bannister (1622), an English oculist and author of the first book of ophthalmology in English, who recognized glaucoma as a disease with four features: increased intraocular pressure, long duration of the disease, the absence of perception of light and the presence of a fixed pupil. However, throughout the 18th century the term glaucoma was still merely a label applied to an inflamed eye wherein the pupil appeared greenish-blue and the visual prognosis was bad, but the tension of the eye was not stressed.[3]
It was only after the careful description by Antoine-Pierre Demours (1818) that the central concept of a rise in intraocular pressure became fully established. G.J. Guthrie (1823) and William McKenzie, a Scottish clinician (1835) confirmed these findings. Donders (1862) described an incapacitating increased eye tension occurring without any inflammatory symptoms as "simple glaucoma". In 1973 Drance provided for the first time the definition of glaucoma as an optic neuropathy caused by increased intraocular pressure and other associated risk factors.[3]
The first patient in the United States federal government's Compassionate Investigational New Drug program, Robert Randall, was afflicted with glaucoma and had successfully fought charges of marijuana cultivation because it was deemed a medical necessity (U.S. v. Randall) in 1976.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "GLAUCOMA, MESSENGER, AND HIPPOCRATES". Archives of ophthalmology (Chicago, Ill. : 1960). 71: 879–80. 1964. ISSN 0003-9950. PMID 14133878.
|first1=missing|last1=in Authors list (help) - ↑ Leffler, Christopher T.; Hadi, Tamer; Salman, Ali; Vasuki, Vivek; Schwartz, Stephen (2015). "The early history of glaucoma: the glaucous eye (800 BC to 1050 AD)". Clinical Ophthalmology. Dove Medical Press Ltd.: 207. doi:10.2147/opth.s77471. ISSN 1177-5483.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Leffler, Christopher T.; Schwartz, Stephen G.; Giliberti, Francesca M.; Young, Matthew T.; Bermudez, Dennis (2015). "Article Commentary: What was Glaucoma Called before the 20th Century?". Ophthalmology and Eye Diseases. SAGE Publications. 7: OED.S32004. doi:10.4137/oed.s32004. ISSN 1179-1721.