Pediatric eye diseases in late medieval Persia, the perspective of Baha al-Dawlah Razi

PURPOSE: This study aims to provide a historical overview of Baha al-Dawlah Razi's contribution to the documentation of pediatric eye diseases in sixteenth-century Persia. METHODS: This study critically analyzed the Persian medical manuscript Kholasat al-Tajarib. Relevant passages concerning ocular disorders in children were examined within their historical and textual context. A detailed review, contextual analysis, and comparison with other historical sources were conducted to identify relevant insights into the treatment and care of ocular disorders in children as described by Baha al-Dawlah Razi. RESULTS: Baha al-Dawlah Razi explicitly described ocular disorders occurring in children in his sixteenth-century Persian medical treatise, Kholasat al-Tajarib. His account includes a dedicated group of descriptions concerning ocular conditions in children. Six ocular conditions occurring in children are described in the text, including periorbital hyperpigmentation, corneal leukoma, eyelid adhesion, conjunctivitis, watery eyes without pain, and eyeball protrusion. CONCLUSIONS: The contributions of Baha al-Dawlah Razi provide important evidence of explicit attention to ocular disorders in children in sixteenth-century Persian medicine. Rather than establishing the origin of pediatric ophthalmology, his account provides historical evidence that childhood ocular disorders were described and treated within the broader Persian medical tradition. These observations contribute to the history of pediatric eye care by documenting the specific diseases, treatments, and precautions described for children in a sixteenth-century Persian medical source.