A rare and historically significant antique Green’s Trephine for Glaucoma, dating to 1931 and presented in its original fitted case with purple velvet lining. This specialized surgical instrument represents an important chapter in the history of glaucoma surgery and the ongoing effort to find safe, effective, and minimally traumatic treatments for one of the leading causes of blindness.
Green’s trephine was invented in 1931 by Aaron S. Green, M.D., Louis D. Green, M.D., and Martin I. Green, M.D., who published their findings in the Archives of Ophthalmology. This automated trephine was developed as a non-traumatic method of creating a controlled opening between the anterior chamber of the eye and the subconjunctival space — a procedure designed to alleviate the excessive intraocular pressure that characterizes open angle glaucoma. By providing a precise and repeatable means of performing this delicate filtration procedure, the Green trephine represented a meaningful advance over earlier, more manually demanding surgical techniques.
The instrument itself is elegantly slender, with a brass and steel construction that reflects the precision engineering standards expected of ophthalmic surgical tools of the era. Presented in its original fitted case, this is a complete and museum-quality example of early 20th century glaucoma surgical history — a piece that will appeal to collectors of antique eye surgery instruments, medical historians, and ophthalmologists alike.
