Landmark Instruments
Instruments that turned ophthalmology in a new direction — and what they still teach us about the order in which surgical decisions are made.
The von Graefe knife
Albrecht von Graefe
A blade two millimetres wide — the exact width of the incisions we make today.
The Barraquer microkeratome
José Ignacio Barraquer
Working the cornea the way a joiner works wood — the idea that founds the whole of refractive surgery.
Meyer-Schwickerath’s sunlight photocoagulator
Gerhard Meyer-Schwickerath
An eclipse burn read backwards: the idea of operating on the retina without opening the eye.
The Putterman clamp
Allen M. Putterman
The instrument arrived before the technique that made its name.
The diamond knife
Tsutomu Sato and Sviatoslav Fyodorov
What made radial keratotomy possible was not the blade. It was the footplate.
The Hessburg-Barron vacuum trephine
Philip C. Hessburg and M. Barron
What retires an instrument is rarely a better instrument.
Articles and videos, to understand before deciding
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