19th and 20th century cataract surgery

[chordatesrock]

Fandom-specific explanation of the setting: post-Avatar: The Last Airbender, pre-Legend of Korra

Comments

[swiftgold]

I did a quick search of the surgical manuals on manybooks.net between your timeframes, because I've seen descriptions of cataract operations in the manuals from the 1600s that I like to read. The only one I found that had a description of the surgery was this one published in 1883. It's not China, of course, but I think the process is not going to vary too much (recovery and prep, however, may well). Here is the book http://manybooks.net/titles/belljoe2456424564-8.html and Chapter Five includes the instructions for operating on the eye. It looks like that by this time they have various methods to do it. It also includes a method specifically for use in "congenital cataracts in infants", so they weren't afraid of trying it, of course, and actually recommend it here - so as to why a family didn't have it done early might have to be thought out character-wise (or may be something more specific to a Chinese culture, which I'm afraid I don't know a ton

[chordatesrock]

Thank you. :)

[nyxelestia]

Toph, right

[chordatesrock]

Yes, it's about Toph. :) I wasn't planning on having her actually gain the ability to see; I was planning to use the failure to get intervention when it could have helped as further evidence that she has the Worst Parents Ever, especially in light of how unlikely it is that it would do any good by the time Toph can choose for herself. Thanks for the ideas for her parents' motives; those are helpful.

[orthent]

Seconding the idea of her parents fearing the risks of cataract surgery--I'm not having much success locating it, now, but before asepsis, there would have been a substantial infection risk. And the quality of vision that was restored was not very good without thick, strong glasses, which created problems of their own. They might even have seen a potential issue with keeping an active young person immobile for the substantial recovery period. (My grandmother had cataract surgery in the late 1940s, and she had to stay in the hospital for a couple of weeks with sandbags on either side of her head.)

[nyxelestia]

So true. Though Toph's parents had no idea that their daughter was an earthbending champion, even they could probably recognize trying to keep her mobile would be an exercise in futility. :) And yikes, your poor grandmother - she really couldn't even more her head to the sides? :(

[svetosila]

[svetosila]

[chordatesrock]

Thanks. :)

[reapermum]

See if you can get hold of any books by Richard Gregory. He studied how people reacted to having their sight restored by cataract or corneal operations. There's a paper on-line here to give you a start. I thought I had a copy of his "Eye and Brain" on my shelves but I can't find it.

As I recall patients who had vision restored as adults after no useful vision from birth never achieved full normal depth perception and had great difficulty correlating what they knew from touch with what they could now see. It took many months of practice to be able to use their new sense and always maintained the habit of confirming things by touch.

[chordatesrock]

Thank you very much!