Talk:Ophthalmology

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Contents 1 Improve Language 2 Comment 3 Treading carefully, here... 4 History 5 Famous ophthalmologists 5.1 Patricia Bath 5.2 Vincent Tabone 5.3 Dr Marvin L. Kwitko 6 Article Improvement Drive 7 Request for peer review on Keratoconus 8 Root Page 9 Regarding the picture... 10 Rufus? 11 Galen and Vesalius 12 Notable & Famous Ophthalmologists

[edit] Improve Language

This article needs to have its grammar improved (in the "history" section). Also, I don't think it's most important to start off with a historical account. I would suggest to give more examples about what ophthalmologists actually do. Also, because this page is probably mostly edited by people in the field, I think the professional requirements should be listed further down. Remember, this is an article in a general encyclopedia, not in a book for medical professionals.

71.142.245.26 17:34, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Comment

Removed this from the article - I'm not at all sure what the writer was trying to say here. Maybe someone else can rephrase it?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Karen Johnson (talk • contribs) 01:51, 16 July 2002 (UTC).

Reply to above: Seems to me like the sentence says that eye sight is important, and that eye disease and eye care is thus very important.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.88.132.34 (talk • contribs) 16:17, 28 April 2004 (UTC).

Guys, please sign your name: type ~~~~ (four tildes) to sign your username and the time.

The removed sentence is not very scientific; it's an attempt at higher prose. I suggest:

Blindness has a tremendous psychological and social impact, and proper eye care is vital for maintaining optimal function of the visual system.

Opinions? JFW | T@lk 08:15, 29 Apr 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Treading carefully, here...

...but I put back the line about optometrists' suggesting that they be regarded as primary eye care doctors.

I think that somewhere, the subtleties of ophthalmogist/optometrist rivalry do need to be stated as clearly and neutrally as possible.

I don't belong to either profession, BTW.

In the region where I live, it appears to me that for the most part, there is in practice an evolution toward optometrists for primary care and opthalmologists as specialists fo referral. One way in which this is taking place is that at least one ophthalmological group practice I know of employs an optometrist, and is the first "doctor" every patient sees.

I don't think anybody would dispute that ophthalmogists have had considerably more training, and that they are MD's (unlike optometrists).

Do ophthalmogists dispute the appropriateness of optometrists to serve as "primary eye care" practitioners?

I believe many health insurers in my area (Massachusetts) will pay for routine eye exams by optometrists, but only will pay for ophthalmologic services if a specific condition has been diagnosed, i.e. the health insurers seem to want optometrists to be the entry point for eye care. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 19:40, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Can someone tell me why there are two words for eye doctor, ophthamologist and oculist. Oculist is mainly used in europe. Xhamlliku—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 172.128.78.86 (talk • contribs) 01:15, 24 February 2005 (UTC).

[edit] History

I am busy at the moment - but just came across this History of Opthalmology website. Seems quite extensive, probably a good source when someone'd like to start a history section. --Oldak Quill 11:57, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Famous ophthalmologists

I can think of two ophthalmologists who are famous for reasons unrelated to ophthalmology: Arthur Conan Doyle and Bashar al-Assad. Do they belong in the entry? If not, perhaps retitling the section to 'Famous Contributors to Ophthalmology' would be closer to the mark? - Ikkyu2 06:26, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Patricia Bath

Regarding: "Patricia Bath was a professional ophthalmologist, who received a patent for a laser catract remover. In 1988, she was the very first African American woman to receive a patent." Various sources state that Dr. Bath was the first African American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical invention, not the very first African American woman to receive a patent. (I believe Sarah Goode earned that honor a century earlier.) Although I think that makes her notable, I'm not sure that makes her a famous ophthalmologist. Her "laserphaco" device is certainly not commonly used and there is a surprising lack of information about it in the mainstream ophthalmology sources. It has certainly not transformed modern cataract surgery as some sources suggest, and others are credited with first performing the technique [1]. I'm interested in hearing other opinions as to whether her name should stay on the list or not; if consensus is for it to stay, I am happy to clean up the listing to make it a bit more accurate. My own vote is that it should not in that there are hundreds of ophthalmologists who are more well known or with similar achievements (except for the part that states "the first African American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical invention"). -AED 21:21, 28 April 2006 (UTC)last edited 23:06, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

I have my doubts whether ophthalmologists famous for other things than ophthalmology should be listed here. Doyle was a writer, Assad is a - shall we say - politician, and Bath is famous for being black. When it comes to Doyle and Assad, I am opposed to their listing as "famous ophthalmologists". The fact that they were ophthalmologists is trivia that belongs in their own biographies, not there. Bath, in my mind, deserves a page but not a listing here. JFW | T@lk 21:09, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

AED asked me to offer an opinion here. I agree with removing Dr. Bath from the list as well. — Knowledge Seeker দ 04:38, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vincent Tabone

Vincent Tabone has certainly contributed to the field of ophthalmology, but is not considered famous as an ophthalmologist. -AED 22:45, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Tabone wasn't the first to address trachoma or think of using sulfonamides to treat trachoma. Per the Trachoma article:

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act designating funds for the eradication of the disease, according to an article in Surv Ophthalmol. 2002 Sep-Oct;47(5):500-9. [2]

By the late 1930s, a number of ophthalmologists reported success in treating trachoma with sulfonamide antibiotics[3] In 1948, Vincent Tabone (who was later to become the President of Malta) was entrusted with the supervision of a campaign to treat trachoma using sulfonamide tablets and drops. [4]

-AED 17:07, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dr Marvin L. Kwitko

In the lists of famous ophthalmologists, there isnt a single canadian. I think with the adding Dr. Marvin Kwitko to the list would be a good representation of Canadian ophthalmology. "He was the first person to do Lazer eyer surgery in Canada", could be his snippet. He also wrote the book "eyes", which is still used in medical schools today, as well as progressed the feild of cataract treatment for children and the elderly.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Beuh pudding (talk • contribs) 07:33, 3 October 2006) (UTC).

It appears that Kwitko is notable enough for inclusion in Wikipedia, but I'm afraid that being Canadian or the first to perform laser eye surgery in a particular region doesn't make him a famous ophthalmologist. Similarly, Eyes and his other achievements make him notable but not necessarily famous. -AED 17:04, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Agree with AED - Notable: yes, so he should have a wiki article. Famous: I don't think so. Check out another notable Canadian Ophthalmologist, John Pratt-Johnson. I will soon be getting to Stephen M. Drance, another stalwart in Ophthalmology from Canada. EyeMD 18:17, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article Improvement Drive

Contact lens is currently nominated to be improved on Wikipedia:Article Improvement Drive. Please support the article with your vote. --Fenice 10:51, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Request for peer review on Keratoconus

A peer review request has been made for Keratoconus. If anyone would like to contribute to that, it would be very welcome. BillC 22:41, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Root Page

I do not agree very much in considering Ophthalmology as son of optics. If it is a branch of Medicine it should be a class of medicine and not of Optics. I do not think that hierarchies works very well with multidisciplinary subjects. ALoopingIcon 00:06, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Ophthalmology can have any parents you (and other editors) like under the Root page /backlink system!!--Light current 03:30, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Eye diseases carry great importance throughout the world and proper eye care is requisite for preserving this beautiful gift of sight.

[edit] Regarding the picture...

Is the use of the phoropter (optical refractor) as the sole illustration a little misleading? The public tend to associate the phoropter with optometrists, and furthermore the field of ophthalmology is far more sophisticated than mere refraction procedures. A corneal graft would perhaps be a good start in my opinion, as it reflects the delicacy of their work. Any thoughts? Mick lucas 14:28, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Not sure what is meant here by "sophisticated", but I think an image of a surgeon working on an eye would be fantastic. -AED 23:46, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Image added - slit lamp examination of a patient by the Ophthalmologist. In public view, it is the "big machine" which every patient associates with the Ophthalmologist examining their eyes. EyeMD 07:50, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rufus?

Who was Rufus? The disambiguation page is not very helpful, nor this one it links onto:

Rufus (Roman cognomen)

DMahalko 01:43, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Galen and Vesalius

"The discovery of the eye went through two cycles of limiting speculation and freeing observation, which led to a dark age between Galen and Vesalius." Is this vandalism? --Gbleem 00:46, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Notable & Famous Ophthalmologists

I think these two are quite notable and famous and should be included back in the lists. I was among an enraptured audience of AAO meeting, (in an overflowing 1200-people capacity hall) and listened to Dr. Hayreh's discourse on ocular circulation. He is a living gem!

• Sohan Singh Hayreh (India, USA) - father of ocular circulation studies and classification of optic nerve diseases

Dr. Peyman is a great Ophthalmologist who's books are a masterpiece and he has helped trained quite a lot of fellows over many years.

• Gholam Peyman (USA) - involved in the development of vitreo-retinal surgery, refractive surgery, and cataract surgery.

EyeMD ^T|C 16:17, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

I think there is a difference between famous and notable. The standards for each depends on the context of readership. In my opinion, someone who is well-known within the profession is not necessarily famous to the average Wikipedia reader. Perhaps there needs to be some discussion in the general Medicine WikiProject regarding this point. -AED 20:44, 2 November 2006 (UTC)