The Evolution of Healthcare Through the Eye: From Ancient Superstition to the Ophthalmoscope

Alexander Pinhas^*

• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States

The eye has emerged as a vital window into systemic health and a powerful tool for proactive, preventive healthcare. This study explored how ideas from antiquity to the 19th century gradually led to the emergence of ophthalmoscopy and the contemporary model of healthcare through the eye. Key developments across the Eurasian continent were examined through the lenses of cultural anthropology, historical medicine and ophthalmic science. Texts were selected to illustrate major conceptual transitions concerning disease causation and the perceived relationship between the eyes and internal organs. As early as ancient Sumeria in the 3rd millenium BCE, people interpreted changes in the external appearance of eyes as signs of demonic possession of internal organs, viewing the eyes as conduits for entering and exiting spirits, and employing talismans to counter supernatural harm caused by the evil eye. Between 500 BCE – 200 CE, the Greek Hippocratic Corpus, the Chinese Huang Di Nei Jing, and the Indian Ayurvedic writings gradually replaced demonic and godly explanations with rational yet inaccurate models of disease involving flows of humors, jing-qi, and doshas, respectively, while extramission theories persisted in attempts to explain how vision works. These frameworks were able to advance empirical thinking despite their inaccuracies, allowing later evidence-based breakthroughs including Ibn al-Haytham's proofs of intromission, Galvani's discovery of electrical conduction in nerves, and Harvey's demonstration of a closed circulatory system. The invention of the ophthalmoscope by Helmholtz in 1851 marked a decisive turning point, enabling clinicians for the first time to directly visualize the retina and optic nerve in living patients. With ophthalmoscopy, the eye was transformed into a true diagnostic window for systemic disease, firmly establishing the eye's modern role in systemic health assessment. These findings suggest that the modern diagnostic use of the eye for internal health reflects a deep historical trajectory from superstition to rationalization to scientific validation. Understanding this evolution provides context for current interest in ocular biomarkers and systemic disease detection through imaging, helping to inform culturally sensitive approaches to population health.