Cataract Surgery

The first modern European physician to successfully extract cataracts from the eye was Jacques Daviel who did it in 1748. One of the earliest forms of cataract surgery recorded is now known as ‘couching’ which was introduced in ancient India and subsequently introduced to other countries by the Indian physician Sushruta in 3rd century A.D., who described the procedure in his work the “Compendium of Sushruta”. Even before him, Greek surgeon Aelius Galenus performed an operation similar to modern cataract surgery in 2nd century A.D.