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Jules Gonin. Pioneer of Retinal Detachment
Surgery
Thomas J Wolfensberger, MD, PD, MER
Hospital career at university of Lausanne
Gonin first worked in the outpatient clinics (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Examination of patients in the outpatient
clinic of
the Eye Hospital around 1900. Jules Gonin was then a
junior doctor under Dr. Dufour, the chairman shown on
the
right in this photograph. (From:"Asile des Aveugles" Lausanne, 1985)
Later he started several research projects covering such
diverse topic as bacterial conjunctivitis, ocular tumours
and hereditary retinopathies. He also developed a method
to store enucleated globes in formol-hardened gelatine.
However, it was in 1902 that Dr. Dufour entrusted him
with the writing of a chapter for French Encyclopedia
of Ophthalmology. This chapter dealt with the problem
of retinal detachment.
Gonin's first publication covered the topic of the pathogenesis
of spontaneous retinal detachment, which was studied in
3 enucleated eyes.
At the International Congress in Lucerne in 1904 Gonin
presented a paper on the role that the vitreous may have
in traumatic retinal detachment.
The fourth volume of the French Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology
appeared in 1906,2 and Gonin's contribution was particularly
well received due to the many detailed drawings he submitted.
Gonin even inserted the prophetic words in his chapter:
"In order to effectively fight a pathological process,
we must know its nature and anatomic conditions. Only
the study of pathogenesis of spontaneous detachment, based
on facts and not on hypotheses, will make it possible
to find the treatment of this disease".1
In 1903, at the age of 33, Gonin was promoted to Privat-Docent,
which implied considerable teaching commitments. In 1908
he was one of co-founders of the Swiss Ophthalmological
Society, and he also became its first president. During
the time between 1903 and 1918 Gonin continued his studies
on the pathogenesis and the treatment of retinal detachment
with perseverance, and he published several papers.2,3
In 1918 Jules Gonin was selected as the director of the
Eye Hospital in Lausanne, and two years later, in 1920,
he was appointed Professor of Ophthalmology at the University
of Lausanne.
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History
