Vincenz Fukala (1847–1911) and the early history of clear-lens operations in high myopia *

Vincenz (Wincenty) Fukala, was born in 1847 in Zolkiew at Galicia in Poland, studied medicine and ophthalmology in Vienna in 1871. He was a pioneer in systematically extracting the clear crystalline lens in young patients with high myopia. He demonstrated the benefit to this group of increased visual acuity which enabled them to work and ophthalmologists gradually began to carry out surgery in high myopes worldwide. He persisted in operating despite the vigorous opposition of several authorities but, through sheer determination he convinced skeptics of the efficacy of his surgical method of lens dissection. He performed the first lens discission in 1887 and in 1894, he had successfully treated 44 patients. The late complication of retinal detachment, which was not understood until years later, eventually led surgeons to abandon the procedure until the recent improvements in both lenticular and retinal surgery techniques that led to better prognosis.