Recollections of European ophthalmology in the 1940s and 1950s: a view from Albi.

The author recalls his medical/ophthalmologic education and his career and travels during the middle decades of this century. He provides colorful descriptions of his professors, friends and colleagues throughout the world, highlighting not only their accomplishments, but also their personalities. Special tribute is given to his dear friend, Dr. Edward Norton, whose death in July 1994 saddened many in the worldwide ophthalmic community.

Unusual association of juvenile macular dystrophy with congenital hypotrichosis: occurrence in two siblings suggesting autosomal recessive inheritance.

A familial association between juvenile macular dystrophy and congenital hypotrichosis is described in two siblings aged 25 and 23 years. We put forward arguments for locating the retinal alteration at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium and suggest that the hair disorder could be a Marie-Unna type hypotrichosis. This association is transmitted as an autosomal recessive condition.

Birdshot retinochoroidopathy and subretinal new vessels.

Decrease of visual acuity in birdshot retinochoroidopathy is due either to optic atrophy or to 3 types of macular involvement: cystoid macular oedema, geographic atrophy, or macular serous detachment. We describe 3 cases of juxtapapillary subretinal neovascularisation occurring in long-standing birdshot retinochoroidopathy. The mechanism of the formation of the new vessels is discussed.

[A royal ophthalmologist: Carl Theodor, Duke in Bavaria (1839-1090)]. / Un ophtalmologiste royal: Carl Theodor, Duc en Bavière (1839-1909).

History reveals that doctor Carl Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, was an exceptional man in many ways if we consider his professional qualities and his sense of responsibilities. Thoroughly humane, and desirous of living very close to his contemporaries, he had to overcome numerous obstacles which hampered his medical destiny. His humanitarian achievements are important and may have influenced his daughter, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and developed her passion for healthcare concerning injured and sick persons. His scientific work, undertaken with prestigious masters in Vienna, Switzerland or Germany, reveals a searcher who always manifested a permanent concern for perfection in the accomplishment of his task.

[The role of the choroid in diabetic maculopathy]. / Rôle de la choroïde dans la maculopathie diabétique.

The damage of the choroidal membrane may be differently interpreted in diverse stages of diabetic retinopathy. As a general rule, the macular edema seems much more related to a retinal than to a choroidal alteration. However, during the evolution, some pathological patterns seem to be linked with the choroidal alteration.

[Evolution of the conceptualization of diabetic retinopathy]. / Evolution des conceptions sur la rétinopathie diabétique.

The latest studies on diabetic retinopathy reveal important clinical and therapeutic advances. From a clinical point of view, diverse methods of examination have enabled to study the primary damages of the pigmentary epithelium in cases of diabetic retinopathy in the young at the age of puberty and post-puberty. Moreover, neuro-functional exploration discloses the visual alterations which could not be objectified with classical methods of examination. The study of the circulation in different ocular tissues gives evidence of important facts concerning the evolution of the disease. The comparison of fluorescein angiography with other techniques of in-vivo injection has demonstrated the existence of a retino-choroidopathy with a particular pattern. Indications for pan-retinal coagulation and photo-coagulations can be better defined. Insulin pumps or combined pancreatic and kidney transplantation may contribute to achieve the glycemic balance but they do not solve the problem of diabetic retinopathy at an advanced stage. Other general therapies which are intended to improve the circulation of the hematological or immunological data have not yet proved to be effective in serious cases of retinopathy. Providing the latest research findings to ophthalmologists, primary care physicians and allied health professionals is the first priority in order to significantly reduce blindness due to diabetes by the year 2000.

[Structure, functions and exploration of the retina]. / Structure, fonctions et exploration de la rétine.

The retina, 350 microns thick membrane, has to transform the light stimulus into visual data. Cones and rods are essential to this phototransduction. Retina structure is now well explored using investigations such as echography, and angiography. Fluorescein angiography and indocyanin green angiography have improved our knowledge of many ocular diseases, especially in age related macular degeneration and in diabetic retinopathy.

[History of photosurgery of the eye]. / Zur Geschichte der Photochirurgie des Auges.

Survey of the development of heliocautery from Antiquity to the 18th century. In art, photocoagulatin of a human eye (in order to destruct it) is, for the first time, represented in 1817 by Hieronymus Hess of Basel. A full account is given of (a) Wilhelm Werneck's therapeutic coagulations (1835): rupturing of cataract by focussed light (sun, phosphorus); (b) Maximilian Adolf Langenbeck's "insolation" of corneal, pupillary and retinal lesions and of traumatic cataract (1859); (c) Vinzenz Czerny's coagulation experiments on the retina of various animals (1867, 1882). J. Morón-Salas was the first to try photocoagulation of retinal tears (1946), but the actual initiator of modern ophthalmic photocoagulation therapy is Gerhard Meyer-Schwickerath (1949).