Editing Ophthalmology (section)

===Modern period===
[[Image:A double sheet showing various ophthalmology instruments, ey Wellcome V0016255.jpg|thumb|240px|Early Ophthalmology instruments]]
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, [[hand lens]]es were used by [[Malpighi]], [[microscope]]s by [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek|Leeuwenhoek]], preparations for fixing the eye for study by [[Frederik Ruysch|Ruysch]], and later the freezing of the eye by [[Francois Pourfour du Petit|Petit]]. This allowed for detailed study of the eye and an advanced model. Some mistakes persisted, such as: why the pupil changed size (seen to be vessels of the iris filling with blood), the existence of the [[posterior chamber of eyeball|posterior chamber]], and the nature of the retina. Unaware of their functions, [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek|Leeuwenhoek]] noted the existence of photoreceptors,<ref>{{cite web|title=Important Dates in Vision Science|url=http://www.arts.rpi.edu/~ruiz/stereo_history/text/visionsc.html|website=www.arts.rpi.edu|access-date=2018-03-27|archive-date=2019-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216134325/http://www.arts.rpi.edu/~ruiz/stereo_history/text/visionsc.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> however, they were not properly described until [[Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus]] in 1834.

[[Jacques Daviel]] performed the first documented planned primary cataract extraction on Sep. 18, 1750 in Cologne.<ref name="Eye1">{{cite journal | last1 = Leffler | first1 = CT | last2 = Hogewind | first2 = BF |name-list-style=vanc | year = 2023 | title = Jacques Daviel performed the first documented planned primary cataract extraction on Sep. 18, 1750. | journal = Eye | volume = Dec. 6, 2023| issue = 7 | pages = 1392–1393 | doi = 10.1038/s41433-023-02874-5 | pmid = 38057561 | pmc = 11076578 | s2cid = 266051586 }}</ref>
[[Georg Joseph Beer]] (1763–1821) was an Austrian ophthalmologist and leader of the First Viennese School of Medicine. He introduced a flap operation for treatment of [[cataract]] (Beer's operation), as well as having popularized the instrument used to perform the surgery (Beer's knife).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2Iigywli08C |title=Fuchs, Ernst, and Alexander Duane.Text-book of Ophthalmology. Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1908 |date=2001-01-01 |access-date=2013-03-11 |last1=Fuchs |first1=Ernst |archive-date=2023-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329100704/https://books.google.com/books?id=U2Iigywli08C |url-status=live }}</ref>

In North America, indigenous healers treated some eye diseases by rubbing or scraping the eyes or eyelids.<ref name="Ophthalmology and Eye Diseases">{{cite journal |vauthors=Leffler CT, et al. |title=Ophthalmology in North America: Early Stories (1491-1801) |journal=Ophthalmology and Eye Diseases|volume=9 |pages=1–51 |year=2017 |pmid=28804247 |pmc=5533269 |doi= 10.1177/1179172117721902 |url=}}</ref>