The most common surgery

Summary

Today we launch Issue 08 of Asimov Press. Read our full Editors’ Note and preview upcoming articles on our website. Thanks for reading!Sight has never merely meant the detection of light. In almost every culture, the eye serves as a sacred symbol: the all-seeing Eye of Horus in Egypt, the divine eye of Odin in Norse mythology, and the third eye of inner knowledge in Hinduism. Like the heart, this organ carries mythological weight and has been intimately linked to the soul.But unlike the heart, vaulted away behind layers of tissue and bone, eyes are exposed, leaving them vulnerable to debris and external damage. Also, unlike the heart, the lens of the human eye has no blood vessels, no nerves, and no interaction with the immune system, meaning it cannot absorb medicines, respond to immune signals, or recover from structural injury.Throughout much of history, then, when an eye was damaged, there was little that could be done to heal it. And even today, ophthalmologists like myself struggle to address the idiosyncrasies of this organ when treating ocular and vision disorders.And such disorders are rampant: In 2020, an estimated 596 million people had distance vision impairment worldwide, of whom 43 million were blind. While the cause for blindness varies — cataracts (17.01 million cases), glaucoma (3.61 million cases), trachoma (1.9 million cases), age-related degeneration (1.85 million cases), and more — these diseases have enormous implications for health and economic development when taken together. Some of these problems, like age-related macular degeneration, remain difficult to treat, but others, such as cataracts, have ready and cost-effective interventions.An Egyptian sculpture depicting the Eye of Horus, from the San Diego Museum of Man. The eye was believed to ward off evil. Credit: WikimediaCataracts are caused by the clouding of the lens due to protein accumulation and denaturation. This buildup must be removed, or it can lead to blindness. Because this pro...