Thirty years after the creation of cryoophthalmology

Low temperatures in ophthalmology were first applied in the end of the previous century. However, those experiments were not sufficiently documented and were not widely used. So the report concerning the Krwawicz (6) method of the cataract cryoextraction published in 1960 is commonly treated as the beginning of the modern cryoophthalmology. This extremely effective and simple method very quickly met with approbation and became commonly applied. After the surgical exposure of the opacificated lens the copper cryoextractor frozen to about -72 degrees C was applied to it. The deep lens freezing to the apparatus occurred enclosing the subcapsular masses. Then the fibres of Zinn ligament were broken and the cataract was gently removed. Due to its safety and the lack of complications the above technique led the real revolution in the cataract surgery. Its was compared to the epochal contribution of Daviel who was the first to remove the lens in 1774. Its importance however, was not just limited to the improvement of the surgical technique. Thanks to the cryoextraction the possibilities of the low temperature application in medicine were noticed. In a short period of time low temperatures began to be used in some other specialties: laryngology, neurosurgery, oncology, etc. It was found out that great number of the eye diseases could be treated in that way, including viral keratitis, haemorrhages to the vitreous, glaucoma, etc. The gradually gained experience gave rise to the new branch of ophthalmology called cryoophthalmology.