The History of Ophthalmology - The Monographs volume 15: History of Glaucoma

Foreword
Robert N. Weinreb

An Introduction to the History of Glaucoma
Christopher T. Leffler

1. Glaucoma in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds
Christopher T. Leffler, Stephen G. Schwartz

2. Glaucoma in the Medieval Arabic World
Christopher T. Leffler, Wasim A. Samara,Tamer M. Hadi, Ali Salman, Faraaz A. Khan

3. Glaucoma in the European Middle Ages and Renaissance
Christopher Leffler, Eric Peterson

4. Buphthalmos
Harry Mark

5. The Early History of Glaucoma in East Asia
Christopher Leffler, Ka-Wai Fan

6. Hydrophthalmia and Paracentesis
Christopher Leffler, Stephen G. Schwartz

7. Glaucoma during the Enlightenment and Early Modern Periods (1700-1849)
Christopher Leffler, Stephen Schwartz

8. John Thomas Woolhouse (1664-1733/4) and his Family of Oculists (1600-1751)
Christopher T. Leffler, Stephen G. Schwartz

9. “Chevalier” John Taylor and His Descendants
Stephen G. Schwartz, Christopher T. Leffler

10. Georg Joseph Beer and Glaucoma
Harry Mark

11. Helmholtz and the Development of the Ophthalmoscope
Richard Keeler

 12. Glaucoma: A Pressure-Induced Optic Neuropathy (1850-1870)
Christopher Leffler

13. Aqueous humor dynamics
Harry Mark

14. Angle Closure Glaucoma Since 1871
Christopher Leffler, Surbhi Bansal

15. The History of Malignant Glaucoma
Andrzej Grzybowski, Piotr Kanclerz

16. The History of Tonometry
Steven Newman

17. A History of Perimetry and Visual Field Testing
Chris Johnson

18. Open Angle Glaucoma in the Twentieth Century
Christopher Leffler

19. The History of Glaucoma Medications
Tony Realini, Eva DeVience

20. The History of the Surgical Microscope in Ophthalmology
Richard Keeler

21. The History of Glaucoma Surgery and Laser Treatment
Reza Razeghinejad, Joanna Liput, George Spaeth

22. Sympathectomy for glaucoma: its rise and fall (1898-1910)
Robert M. Feibel

23. The Pathogenesis of Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy
Sohan Singh Hayreh

24. Mechanisms of Glaucoma Without Elevated Intraocular Pressure
Russell Swan, Brandon Baartman, Michael Greenwood, John Berdahl

25. The History of Pediatric Glaucoma
Jana Bregman, Janet Alexander, Sara Fard, Mona A. Kaleem, Natario L. Couser

26. The History of Glaucoma in Mexico
Rolando Neri-Vela

27. The History of Neovascular Glaucoma
Adam Pflugrath

28. The History of Iridocorneal Endothelial Syndrome
Surbhi Bansal

29. The History of Pseudoexfoliation
Andrzej Grzybowski. Piotr Kanclerz

30. The History of Pigment Dispersion Syndrome and Pigmentary Glaucoma
Lynn E. Harman, Curtis E. Margo

31. Uveitic Glaucoma
Christopher Donovan, Lynn E. Harman

32. Immunological Mechanisms in Glaucoma: History of Ideas and Hypotheses
Lynn E. Harman, Curtis E. Margo

33. The Evolution of the Optic Disc Analysis: Past and Present
Fritz Dannheim

34. The History of Optical Coherence Tomography
Rachel L. Anderson, Joel S. Schuman

35. Glaucoma and other Ophthalmic Disorders in Selected Artists
James Ravin

Earlier generations of ophthalmologists who oversaw the care of glaucoma patients could only dream of the extraordinary diagnostic tests and technologies that we have available today for managing glaucoma. Most likely, they also could not have conceived that there would be so many amazing medical and surgical therapies for glaucoma that are now used to ameliorate and even cure some of these patients. From where and from whom has all this originated? Study of the medical history, particularly the history of glaucoma, can provide an insight.

Assessment of the structure and function of the optic nerve and lowering of intraocular pressure, for example, are pillars of glaucoma management, but few people know where they came from and who created them. Since the invention of the ophthalmoscope in the mid-19th century, most relevant diagnostic and therapeutic entities in glaucoma have been built upon knowledge that previously existed combined with the curiosity and persistence of more than one individual. It is probable that these ideas did not appear magically to any one of them. Rather, these concepts, like so many others that we take for granted today, were developed as the result of collaborative creativity that built upon existing knowledge of the disease and its treatment. And all those who imagined, conceived, and propagated them were innovators. Learning about the history of glaucoma provides the underpinnings and an opportunity to understand the prevailing ideas at the time of these new ideas and how such innovations were transformed from just being disruptive esoteric concepts into the reality of clinical practice. Learning about the past provides a perspective for current care of glaucoma.

Although many such entities came about first in the imagination of a single person, virtually all of them depended on the collective wisdom of both earlier and contemporary colleagues. And the collaborations that created the changing concepts of glaucoma were not just between generations, but also among peers. In fact, our current understanding of glaucoma largely has arisen after ideas have been handed off from one group of scientific and medical innovators to the next. In some cases, the original ideas about the pathogenesis of glaucoma and its diagnostics and therapeutics were accepted quickly by those who understood their use and embraced change. The acceptance of others was an evolutionary process that required a better understanding of where they would fit and how the best could be employed in their research or clinical management. This sometimes meant reframing one’s understanding of glaucoma pathobiology and pathophysiology, and then implementing the ideas into practice and assessing whether they would lead to more sensitive and specific methods for diagnosis or, perhaps, more effective and safer treatments. Regardless of the result, such paradigms not only enhanced knowledge and care of glaucoma, but led to the reconceptualization of glaucoma to build upon for future progress. And there still is so much to learn from studying the past that can inform our clinical care and research!

Robert N. Weinreb, MD
University of California San Diego
La Jolla, California
USA