In the pyramids in Giza, in 1926, Iry’s tomb was discovered, who was a doctor who lived between 2270 and 2100 bc. On a great limestone stele, built in his home, the hyerogliphics define him. “oculist of the court”. But it’s the Ebars papyrus, a medical treaty written seven hundred years after Iry’s death, the main source of information about oculist pathology. The sight problems were the same ones we find today: myopia, squinting, cataract and conjunctivitis. Who had a weak sight was cured with a mixture of honey, minio and ocular liquid from a pig, injected in the ear.
An ointment made from the brain of a turtle was the treatment for squirting. The patient, to render the treatments more effective, had to repeat a magic formula twice: “I have followed the instructions and put the ointment: the crocodile is weak”. (The crocodile was one of the animals responsible for the eclipse of the sun, because it stole an eye from sun. No documents about eye surgery operations have reached us.