A Review on Cataract in the Cannon of Medicine and Nur-al- uyun

Background and According to the world health organization (WHO), cataract is the most general cause of returnable blindness, accounting for 47.8% of total blindness in the world. Compared to Greek medicine, a major progress of Islamic medicine was in ophthalmology. Rhazes wrote, the first complete and comprehensive description about cataract and the first Persian book on eye diseases and treatments was written by Abu RuhJourjani.
A nonsystematic review study was done using library research and a review of the literature by a focus on Iranian Traditional Medicine books. Current research was performed in six phases (choosing the keywords, searching the sources, providing a single list, classifying, and comparing). Then, cataract was searched in Canon of Medicine written by Avicenna and the Nur-al- uyun written by Jourjani.
Definition, etiology and treatment strategies were classified into three 3 main categories: nutrition, life style, and medications and surgery. The major difference between modern medicine books and these books was preventive measures for cataract that were suggested by the two scientists.
Both physicians believed that changes in life style and avoiding certain foods can prevent this disease. According to Avicenna and Jourjani if the disease is detected at early stages, the progress could be hindered by appropriate treatments. But surgical treatment is needed if the cataract is stiff.