Preserving the Miracle of Sight (Spanish version, 2003)

Summary: This article tells the story of how medical research into the structure of the eye and research in physics on light and lasers met to benefit diabetes patients and others with eye problems. In 1918, an ophthalmologist came to understand how the vitreous fluid in the eye played a vital role in sudden retinal detachments. Meanwhile, physicists studying the nature of light discovered that atoms can absorb energy and emit it later at specific frequencies. This led to the discovery of the basic principle behind lasers. As ophthalmologists continued research to perfect techniques to seal retinal tears, they realized that bright beams of light at some wavelengths could be used for this procedure. By 1960, scientists had built a laser device using a synthetic ruby which was used very successfully to repair some retinal problems, but not all. Scientists realized that they needed light of higher frequency for treating diabetic retinal problems. Further research led to the development of the Argon laser used for this purpose. Recently, lasers have been used in the “lasik” type operations which allow doctors to reshape a person’s cornea to correct vision problems.