The Barraquer Cataract Surgery Erisophake Pump, dating from approximately 1920, represents one of the most ingenious innovations in the history of ophthalmic surgery. Spanish ophthalmologist Joaquin Barraquer conceived the idea of using suction to extract the cataractous crystalline lens from the eye — a revolutionary departure from the forceps and hooks surgeons had relied upon for centuries. According to ophthalmic legend, Barraquer was inspired by watching a leech in an aquarium lift a rock by applying suction to it, leading him to wonder whether the same principle could be applied to the delicate task of lens extraction.
The erisophake — from the Greek words for “wool” and “lens” — is a spoon-shaped metal suction cup connected to an electric pump. Applied to the surface of the cataract, the pump was activated to create approximately 60 mmHg of suction, allowing the entire cataractous lens to be “delivered” in its entirety in a procedure known as intracapsular cataract extraction. The technique evolved over time from electric pump to syringe to rubber bulb suction, before cryoextraction superseded it — where a freezing probe adhered to the lens — and was itself eventually replaced by extracapsular cataract surgery, then phacoemulsification, and most recently laser cataract removal.
This instrument therefore sits at the very beginning of a surgical lineage that leads directly to the modern cataract procedures performed millions of times annually worldwide today, making it one of the most historically significant surgical instruments in this collection.
