Abu al-Qasim Zahrawi (A.D. 936-1013) was considered the greatest medieval surgeon. He has been described by many as the father of surgery. His greatest contribution to medicine is the Kitab al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical & surgical practices. His pioneering contributions to the field of surgical procedures and instruments had an enormous impact in the East and West,as well into the modern period, where some of his discoveries are still applied in medicine& surgery.

more »

... had a special interest in eyelid surgery. He gave sensible suggestions on the use of fine instruments, of which he had a wide variety. The third volume described detailed procedures of performing ophthalmic operations including "cataract".He described surgical management of different pathological conditions i.e.Entropion, Entropion, trichiasis,ptosis and symblepharon. Abu-al-Qasim was specialized in curing disease by cauterization. He describes about more than 20 cauterizes for specific indications, these include the punctuate cautery and the crescentic cautery for Ptosis of eyelids, lacrimal and perianal fistula are some examples of the beneficial and effective cauterization. He invented several devices used during surgery, for purposes such as inspection of the interior of the urethra, applying and removing foreign bodies from the throat, inspection of the ear, etc.The finely pointed scalpel to cut up a swollen foreign body in the ear, eye speculum, fine conjectivital hooks, ophthalmic scissors, fine couching needles, scrappers for teeth, forceps for the removal of broken roots of teeth and for the wiring of teeth, and the use of ox bone for artificial teeth. The operative removal of a ranula and the use of a tonsil guillotine and mouth gag in a tonsillectomy are among the original discoveries of Al-Zahrawi. The details ofophthalmic Surgeries among above will be presented in full length paper.