Berrár’s myopia examination

Berrár-féle myopiás folt

magyarul

The innovator: Mihály Berrár (1884–1929)

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, head of the Department of Surgery and Ophthalmology from 1921 to 1929. He was an excellent, broad-minded researcher  well versed in physiology and histology, too, a clear and precise teacher and writer. The first Hungarian researcher of veterinary ophthalmology; creator of several simple ophthalmic examination methods and instruments.
(Source: Magyar Állatorvosi Panteon)

Other names: Berrár’s method, Berrár’s procedure, Berrár’s myopic spot, Berrár’s examination method

Description: ”a simple and easy-to-use practical method for the examination of horses’ more severe myopia based upon the recognition of the myopic spot.”
(Állatorvosi értelmező szótár. Szerk. Gallyas Csaba, Holló Ferenc. Budapest, Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, 1984. p. 80.)

The detailed description of the method can be found in and the source of the image is the following article: Berrár Mihály: A lovak myopiájáról. Állatorvosi Lapok, 1923. 46. 9–10. p. 47–49.

 

Year: Mihály Berrár held a lecture on myopia in horses in May, 1922, five years after his first publication in the topic. A veterinarian asked for the publication of this lecture in the Veterinary Bulletin (Állatorvosi Lapok). The journal referred to the first article from 1917*, and issued its second part** in number 9–10. of 1923 in the journal.
* Berrár Mihály: A „sclerosisos gyűrűk” myopiás eredete. A myopia fokának egyszerű megállapítási módja. Közlemények az összehasonlító élet- és kórtan köréből, 1917. 13. 3–4. p. 59–74.
** Berrár Mihály: A lovak myopiájáról. Állatorvosi Lapok, 1923. 46. 9–10. p. 47–49.

Interesting: The Berrár’s myopia examination was praised for its simplicity and ease of use on military horses by Nándor Maly, a military chief veterinarian, in his veterinary doctoral thesis* in 1927.

Dezső Fehér mentions** that Mihály Berrár’s assistant, Gyula Kómár, also participated in the development of the method, who describes the examination in detail in his ophthalmological works***, and also his modified version of the method, which makes the Berrár’s method suitable for “the detection and determination of any degree of myopia, as well as of emmetropia or hypermetropia… All that is needed for this procedure, in addition to a simple ophthalmoscope, is a 4-5 D-convex lens. By placing this lens in front of the eye to be examined, the myopic, emmetropic or hypermetropic eye can be made myopic to a greater degree, so that the distance point of the eye can be determined from the myopic spot.” A nice colour drawing illustrates the phenomenon: figure 37. Myopic spot in the eye of a horse with ring-shaped lens reflexes (mirror image).

Berrár-féle myopiás folt (Kómár)
Berrár-féle myopiás folt (Kómár)

* Maly Nándor: A lovak szaruhártya- és lencse astigmatismusa, különös tekintettel a myopiára. Állatorvosdoktori értekezés kivonata. Közlemények az összehasonlító élet- és kórtan köréből, 1927. 21. 1–6. p. 70–80. URL (különlenyomat): https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/154252122.pdf Megtekintve: 2023.05.14.

** Fehér Dezső: Szemhibák jelentősége versenylovakon. Magyar Állatorvosok Lapja, 1985. 40. 7. p. 424–426.

*** Például: Kómár Gyula: Állatorvosi szemészet. Budapest, Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, 1953. p. 36–38.

Éva Orbán