Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: nearsightedness

  • The history of eyeglasses

    Efforts to improve vision date back to the ancient civilizations of India and China. Greek scholars such as Ptolemy and Euclid endeavored to understand the physics of light refraction, the mechanisms of lenses, and how their properties can enhance vision and literacy. The Romans magnified the letters they were looking at by placing reading stones…

  • Medicean optics: An analysis of Raffaello’s Portrait of Pope Leo X and Two Cardinals

    Vincent P. de Luise New Haven, Connecticut, United States Myopia, or nearsightedness, is the most common global eye disorder of refractive error, with significant global public health consequences.1 Along with cataract, macular degeneration, infectious disease, and vitamin A deficiency, myopia is one of the most important causes of visual impairment worldwide.1 In the United States, approximately…