Jacques Daviel: The Invention of Modern Cataract Surgery

Abstract

The eighteenth century French surgeon Jacques Daviel is generally credited with introducing cataract extraction. His advance was made possible by earlier studies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which revealed the correct anatomical location of the lens in the eye as well as the true nature of the cataract. Daviel had limited his surgical practice to ophthalmology and had gained an excellent reputation as a “coucher” of cataracts prior to introducing his method of extracapsular extraction. It is debatable whether extraction was a safer method than couching before the introduction of anesthesia, asepsis and corneal sutures. Indeed, there were nearly a hundred years of controversy before extraction was fully accepted as the preferred technique by eye surgeons.