The effects of World War I upon French ophthalmology.

Abstract

Among the health emergency of World War 1, the one relating to the visual organs injuries is one of the most serious. The use of weapons of new type (grenades, shells, shrapnel) that produce chips that are projected on faces, brings the number of soldiers eye injured to an already impressive quantity at the end of the first year of conflict. This emergency is completely unexpected and it is particularly serious because this kind of trauma was extremely disabling. This situation cause a reaction by French ophthalmologists who start working to improve the organization of assistance, to administer effective treatments and surgery, and even on some issues beyond the medical field (legislation, assistance for war blinds). This article presents the main issues that French ophthalmologists have had to confront with during the Great War and, through this, to question the impact of the First World War on the development of ophthalmology as a medical specialty.