Vincenz Fukala

Vincenz Fukala aka Wincenty Fukała was born into a Polish family in present-day Zhovkva in Ukraine on January 2, 1847. Fukala died on October 27, 1911, at Vienna. ==Career==

Studying medicine in University of Vienna, Fukala specialized in ophthalmology under Austrian ophthalmologist Carl Ferdinand von Arlt. After working as an ophthalmologist in Plzeň and Karlovy Vary in Bohemia for five years from 1889, he returned to Vienna in 1895. Fukala traveled to Egypt in 1872 to study trachoma, and to the United States in 1891 and 1892 to study scrofulous eye disease. ==Contributions==

Fukala is better known for early works on Clear lens extraction, the surgical removal of natural lens of the eye, as a treatment of high myopia. His researches in clear lens extraction later led to the development of two cornea-based refractive surgeries, keratomileusis and epikeratophakia. Other than clear lens extraction technique for myopia, Fucala developed highly successful techniques for the treatment of ectropion, an eyelid condition caused by blepharitis, trachoma, or shallow eye sockets following enucleation. He removed the lens, even at low power (−10 D), in children between five and ten years of age with progressive myopia who were prone to increasing levels of myopia. ==References==