Editing Cataract (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Cataract surgery#History}}

Cataract surgery was first described by the [[Ayurveda|Ayurvedic physician]], [[Suśruta]] (about 5th century BCE) in ''[[Sushruta Samhita]]'' in [[ancient India]]. Most of the methods focused on hygiene. Follow-up treatments include bandaging of the eye and covering the eye with warm [[butter]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v0oL8xDJ0VEC&pg=PA371 |title=The Eye in History |vauthors=Goes FJ |date=2013 |publisher=JP Medical Limited |isbn=978-93-5090-274-5 |page=371 |language=en}}</ref> Cataracts and their treatment in [[Ancient Rome]] are discussed in ''[[De Medicinae]]'' (29 CE) by the Latin encyclopedist [[Aulus Cornelius Celsus]].<ref>{{cite book |ol=5225311W |title=De Medicinae | vauthors = Celsus AC, Collier GF  |year=1831}}</ref> Archaeological evidence of eye surgery in the Roman era also exists.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7194352.stm |title=The Romans carried out cataract ops |date=February 9, 2008 |work=BBC News | vauthors = Elliott J |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080218050244/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7194352.stm |archive-date=February 18, 2008 }}</ref>

[[Galen|Galen of Pergamon]] (2nd century CE), the Greek physician]], described an operation similar to modern cataract surgery. Using a needle-shaped instrument, Galen attempted to remove the cataract-affected lens of the eye.<ref>{{cite journal | pmc = 1034789 | pages=85–87 | volume=7 | issue=1 | journal=Med Hist | title=Galen: On Anatomical Procedures: the Later Books | doi=10.1017/s002572730002799x| year=1963 | vauthors = Keele KD }}</ref>

The [[Ophthalmology in medieval Islam|Arab ophthalmologist]] [[Ammar Al-Mawsili]], in his ''The Book of Choice in Ophthalmology'', written ''circa'' 1000 CE, wrote of his invention of a [[syringe]] and the technique of cataract extraction while [[experiment]]ing with it on a patient.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Origins of Neuroscience: A History of Explorations Into Brain Function| vauthors = Stanley F |year=1994|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-514694-3|page=70}}</ref>

In 1468 [[Abiathar Crescas]], a Jewish physician and astrologer of the [[Crown of Aragon]], famously removed the cataracts of King [[John II of Aragon]], restoring his eyesight.

===Etymology===
"Cataract" is derived from the [[Latin]] ''{{lang|la|cataracta}}'', itself from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|καταρράκτης}} (''{{lang|grc-Latn|katarrhaktēs}}'') 'waterfall'.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkatarra%2Fkths |chapter=καταρράκτης |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405004553/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkatarra%2Fkths |archive-date=2012-04-05 |first1=Henry George |last1=Liddell |first2=Robert |last2=Scott |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |title-link=A Greek–English Lexicon |via=Perseus}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkatara%2Fssw |chapter=καταράσσω |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404220922/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkatara%2Fssw |archive-date=2012-04-04 |first1=Henry George |last1=Liddell |first2=Robert |last2=Scott |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |title-link=A Greek–English Lexicon |via=Perseus}}</ref><ref name="DictionaryComCataract">{{cite web |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cataract |title=cataract |work=Dictionary.com |publisher=Dictionary.com, LLC |access-date=1 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="OxfordCataractArch">{{cite web |url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cataract |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008005743/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cataract |title=cataract |work=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |archive-date=8 October 2012 |url-status=dead |access-date=1 April 2020}}</ref> As rapidly running water turns white, so the term may have been used metaphorically to describe the similar appearance of mature ocular opacities. In Latin, ''cataracta'' had the alternative meaning "[[portcullis]]"<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dcataracta |chapter=cataracta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404221004/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dcataracta |archive-date=2012-04-04 |first1=Charlton T. |last1=Lewis |first2=Charles |last2=Short |title=A Latin Dictionary |via=Perseus |title-link=A Latin Dictionary}}</ref> and the name possibly passed through French to form the English meaning "eye disease" (early 15th century), on the notion of "obstruction".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cataract |title=cataract |website=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014103757/http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=cataract |archive-date=2007-10-14 }}</ref> Early Persian physicians called the term ''nazul-i-ah'', or "descent of the water"—vulgarised into waterfall disease or cataract—believing such blindness to be caused by an outpouring of corrupt [[humorism|humour]] into the eye.<ref>[http://wordcraft.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/756604565/m/2881057435 Mistaken Science – Topic Powered by eve community] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622143811/http://wordcraft.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/756604565/m/2881057435 |date=2008-06-22 }}, Wordcraft Forums, wordcraft.infopop.cc</ref>