Francis I. Proctor, MD and his wife Elizabeth C. Proctor: Their lives and legacy.

The Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology is internationally recognized for its research in the fields of ocular inflammatory and infectious diseases. Although the name of one of its founders, Francis I. Proctor, MD (1864-1936) is memorialized, the legacy of his wife, Elizabeth C. Proctor (1882-1975) is not as well known. They were both full partners in this endeavor. Francis, a successful and wealthy ophthalmologist, retired to Santa Fe, New Mexico. After their marriage, they became interested in the problem of blinding trachoma, then an endemic problem on the Native American Indian reservations. The couple selected Phillips Thygeson, MD (1903-2002), a young ophthalmologist with an interest in infectious diseases, as their lead investigator. Using their own funds, the Proctors paid for Thygeson and themselves to study trachoma in Egypt, and then establish a trachoma research laboratory in Arizona where the causative agent of trachoma was identified. Not only did the Proctors fund these studies, they also studied bacteriology so they could help in the laboratory themselves. After Francis' death, Elizabeth endowed the Foundation in 1947 and continued to support it. She also established the Proctor Medal for The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

An ancient eye test--using the stars.

Vision testing in ancient times was as important as it is today. The predominant vision testing in some cultures was the recognition and identification of constellations and celestial bodies of the night sky. A common ancient naked eye test used the double star of the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major or the Big Bear. The second star from the end of the handle of the Big Dipper is an optical double star. The ability to perceive this separation of these two stars, Mizar and Alcor, was considered a test of good vision and was called the "test" or presently the Arab Eye Test. This article is the first report of the correlation of this ancient eye test to the 20/20 line in the current Snellen visual acuity test. This article describes the astronomy, origin, history, and the practicality of this test and how it correlates with the present day Snellen visual acuity test.

A retrospective study of the incidence of culture-positive endophthalmitis after cataract surgery and the use of preoperative antibiotics.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of culture-positive endophthalmitis after cataract surgery in an ambulatory surgery center and to analyze the effect of a specific preoperative antibiotic regimen in reducing the incidence of endophthalmitis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The medical records of 30,870 consecutive eyes undergoing cataract extraction at a single ambulatory surgery center were reviewed retrospectively. Complications of the cataract surgeries, including endophthalmitis, were collected. RESULTS: Cataract surgery was performed without the use of preoperative topical antibiotics on 19,529 eyes from 1990 to 1998 (Group 1) and using topical preoperative ciprofloxacin-soaked pledgets on 11,341 eyes from 1999 to 2003 (Group 2). Five eyes had culture-positive endophthalmitis in each group. The incidence of culture-positive endophthalmitis was 0.03% (1 in 3000) in Group 1 and 0.04% (1 in 2268) in Group 2 (P = 1.0). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of postoperative endophthalmitis in this study was low. A preoperative pledget soaked with a second-generation fluoroquinolone did not appear to lower the incidence of culture-positive endophthalmitis after cataract surgery in this series.