Ophthalmology Trivia:
Did you know …
Dr. George Frick is generally regarded as the first American to limit his medical practice to ophthalmology.
Dr. Frick was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1793 and received his medical degree in 1815. He studied under the renowned ophthalmologist Dr. George Joseph Beer in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Frick was the first American to write a textbook, published in 1824 on the eye entitled A Treatise on the Diseases of the Eye. This publication greatly increased the number of American medical students interested in eye disease.
Some of the book’s subject matter included, cataracts, corneal ulcers, paralysis of the eyelid, strabismus and tumors of the conjunctiva. Although Dr. Frick was the author of numerous journal articles, this is the only book he wrote.
In later years, Dr. Frick suffered from severe hearing loss and retired in Europe. He died in Germany in 1870.