Retinal involvement in sepsis: from the eye of the patient to the eye of the beholder

Excerpt

In the history of mankind the importance of the eye has always extended beyond the organ itself. In ancient Egypt the “Eye of Horus” represented royal power and good health and reflected all six senses. In Greek mythology the symbolic value of the eye was already supported by detailed medical knowledge [1]. Not only symbolizing the giant one-eyed cyclops’ limited intelligence in contrast to the vigilance of Panoptes, whose body was covered by eye’s, the stories also reflected the understanding of the concepts of visual fields and acuity. In modern ophthalmology the idea of ocular involvement in systemic diseases, such as lupus and diabetes, is well established. In addition, the eye is also known as an organ that “mirrors” diseases in a distant primary organ of interest; Roth spots in endocarditis is the classic example [2]. …