The first artificial eye. Who made them? Who was the first prosthetist?
History of eye prosthesis goes into the mists of time. It is known that artificial eyes made even in ΙX BC. Residents of Babylon, ancient Egypt, China and the Aegean region, believed in an afterlife, not only loaded with jewels coffins of their relatives for burial, but also inserted the artificial eyes in the orbit of their mummies.
In the Egyptian mummies and mummies in the tribes that lived in ancient times, the American continent, discovered simulate eyes, made of precious stones, marble inserted in it with colored glass, gold, silver, coated with enamel, ivory, etc. . Such products have been so jewelry made that during the excavations of archaeologists terrified at their "bright eyes".
For the first time artificial eyes for living people have been made in the V. BC Those engaged in the Roman and Egyptian priests, who also had a medical practice.
Despite the ancient origin of the ocular prosthesis, most people almost the whole history of humanity was forced to use a dark bandage - a patch to hide the disfigurement.
The real story of eye prosthesis begins from the time of Ambroise Pare (Ambruoize Pare), a French surgeon and a dentist who lived in 1570-1590gg. He published drawings and calculations of glass and porcelain dentures skorlupopodobnyh, relevant, today's thin-walled. These glass eyes are a little earlier Venetian. The development of glass-blowing in the XIV century. Venice allowed mass produce ocular prostheses, but the master glassmakers kept production methods secret. Soon the best craftsmen moved from Venice to France, where the prostheses at the end of XVΙΙΙ. reached a high perfection. These patients came from different countries to get an eye prosthesis. Several families of skilled glassmakers perfected the technology and kept the family secrets, and make a profit. The best artists in the late XVΙΙΙ. were A. Miro, Boisson, Jerdan. Their names were known throughout Europe. At this time, however, the use of ocular prostheses was limited, the reason for this has been their high cost and difficulties of travel to Paris because of the absence at the time of railways. In 1851 the French prosthetic settled in the United States by establishing a firm «Mager and gougelman», still exists today.
In the 30-40 years XΙX century began to develop prosthetics in Germany. L. Muller, a skilled German glass-blower, not only caught up but surpassed the French masters, he founded his company, soon became widely known. In the first decades of the century for the manufacture of ΧΧ ocular prostheses have been tried many substitutes, fragile glass, among them aluminum, ivory, rubber, celluloid, etc. But all these materials were not suitable for prosthesis. Up to 40 years in the course were the only glass prosthesis, the main supplier of whom were German companies. Since the beginning of World War II, imports glazoproteznogo glass eye prostheses in the UK, USA, Canada and other countries stopped. Stocks prostheses in these countries were small, and its own production of high quality glass to organize failed. Therefore, in the UK and the U.S., based on the experience of dental prosthetics, have begun to develop technology for making artificial eyes from polymethylmethacrylate. The material was very comfortable and technologically advanced, and in 1944 was already organized the mass production of new products. The widespread introduction into the practice of plastic ocular prosthesis was a qualitatively new stage of development of ocular prosthetics. Plastics has achieved successes that would have been unthinkable when using glass-blowing techniques.
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