Medicine & Surgery
Cataract surgery (couching)
1st millennium BCE-CESushruta (attrib.)Sushruta SamhitaPan-Indian / unspecified
1,000 BCE
Described couching to displace a clouded lens, an early cataract intervention.
- Dated
- 1,000 BCE–1000
- As scholars put it
- 1st millennium BCE-CE
- Originator
- Sushruta (attrib.)
- Source text
- Sushruta Samhita
- Region
- Pan-Indian / unspecified
- Discipline
- Medicine & Surgery
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- Medium
- Verification
- Reference-cited
Meanwhile in the West
Couching spread across the ancient world; modern lens surgery is a later Western advance.
Fair to say
Couching is crude and risky by modern standards; it is a precursor, not equivalent to modern surgery.
Path to modern innovation
An early ophthalmic surgical technique.
1,000 BCECataract surgery (couching)
1976Transmission
Transmitted via Greek and Arab medicine.
Primary sources
- 3An English translation of the Sushruta samhita, based on original Sanskrit text. Edited and published by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. With a full and comprehensive introd., translation of different readings, notes, comperative views, index, glossary and platesUnreviewed
- 4Sushruta SamhitaUnreviewed
References
- 1Sushruta Samhita
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-032 on GitHub.