The Effective Medicinal plants in Cataract Treatment: An Inquiry in Persian Medicine Resources (4-13th century AH)

Cataract is a kind of eye disease that starts with blurriness of eye lens and the vision is disrupted as the opacity and cloudiness of the lens increases. Iranian people knew cataract as "Nozoul-al-ma" (water fall) and they believed that this disease was an effect of the moisture that accumulates between lens and cornea. Currently, surgery is the only way to restore vision in people with cataract. However, effective medical therapy can reduce the costs and risks of surgery. The purpose of this study is to find the effective medicinal plants in cataract treatment.
This review article based on library research methods was conducted in three steps (keyword determination, analysis of resources, scoring and arrangement) by investigating Persian medicine references. In this study, seven books from 4-13th century AH were studied. The results were scored from 1 to 3 based on implicit or undecided statement, single citation, direct statement and emphatic effect statement.
FINDINGS: 36 medicinal plants were found and 11 plants (Ferula assafoetida, Ferula Persica, Foeniculum Vulgare, Cyclamen europaeum, Allium cepa, Euphorbia resinifera, Isatis tinctoria, Zataria multiflora , Olea europaea, Caesalpinia bonduc, Commiphora opobalsamum) obtained the highest scores.
The plants that obtained the highest scores were probably the most prominent drugs for the treatment of cataract in 4-13th century AH. Frequent use of these drugs in recent centuries may indicate their appropriate effect on cataract. However, more clinical researches are required to confirm that.