Alfred Carl Graefe (23 November 1830 – 12 April 1899) was a German

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

born in Martinskirchen. From 1850 to 1854 he studied medicine at the universities of Halle,

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

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Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

,Graefe, Karl Alfred
at Neue Deutsche Biographie then from 1855 to 1858, worked as an assistant to his cousin, ophthalmologist

Albrecht von Graefe Albrecht von Graefe may refer to: * Albrecht von Graefe (ophthalmologist) (1828-1870), Prussian opthalmologist * Albrecht von Graefe (politician) Albrecht von Graefe (1 January 1868 – 18 April 1933) was a German landowner and right-wing ...

, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. During this time period, he also spent time in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where he studied with Frédéric Jules Sichel and Louis-Auguste Desmarres.Biographisches Lexikon hervorragender Ärzte
Zeno.org In 1859 he founded a private eye clinic in Halle, and in 1873 became a full professor at the University of Halle. In 1884 he was appointed director of the newly constructed university eye clinic. He is remembered for his work with ocular motility disorders, particularly

strabismus Strabismus is a vision disorder in which the eyes do not properly align with each other when looking at an object. The eye that is focused on an object can alternate. The condition may be present occasionally or constantly. If present during a ...

. He was a pioneer of aseptic ophthalmic

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

involving efforts for prevention of surgical complications such as

endophthalmitis Endophthalmitis is inflammation of the interior cavity of the eye, usually caused by infection. It is a possible complication of all intraocular surgeries, particularly cataract surgery, and can result in loss of vision or loss of the eye itself ...

. Also, he is credited with providing an early detailed description of retinal ischemia, and was the first physician to perform an extirpation of the

lacrimal sac The lacrimal sac or lachrymal sac is the upper dilated end of the nasolacrimal duct, and is lodged in a deep groove formed by the lacrimal bone and frontal process of the maxilla. It connects the lacrimal canaliculi, which drain tears from the ey ...

. He collaborated with

Edwin Theodor Saemisch Edwin Theodor Saemisch (30 September 1833, Luckau – 29 September 1909, Bonn) was a German ophthalmologist born in Luckau. In 1858 he received his medical doctorate from the University of Berlin, afterwards serving as an assistant to Albrech ...

in publishing an epic ophthalmological work titled "''Handbuch des gesamten Augenheilkunde''" (7 volumes, 1874–80). Graefe was physician to composer

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

when the latter suffered from failing vision. A date for

cataract A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...

surgery was planned in September 1886, however Liszt died during the summer, and the surgery never took place.

Selected written works

* ''Klinische Analyse der Motilitätsstörungen des menschlichen Auges'', (Berlin 1858). * ''Symptomenlehre der Augenmuskellähmungen'', (1867). * ''Ein Wort zur Erinnerung an A. v. Graefe'', (Halle 1870). * ''Handbuch der gesamten Augenheilkunde'', (

1874–80) (with Theodor Saemisch).

References

Essay on Graefe & Liszt
* ''Parts of this article are based on a translation of the equivalent article at the

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''.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graefe, Alfred Carl 1830 births 1899 deaths German ophthalmologists People from the Province of Saxony University of Würzburg alumni Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg