Cataract surgery in Spanish America, 1611-1830

Eye surgery reached the Americas with the Spanish medical system and was regulated by it: oculists were examined and priced by the protomedicato, couching is documented in Mexico City by 1611, and lens extraction — the modern operation — was advertised in Havana and performed in Guatemala City by 1797. The same record shows how thin the provision was: a handful of practitioners, and patients blind for years before anyone could operate on them.