[Perspectives on Benito Perez Galdós' cataracts].
Galdós started with sight troubles before he was 40 years old. Later, he suffered an iritis and he had more marked cataract in his left eye. When he was 62 years old he suffered a transitory hemiplegia. In 1911 and in 1912 he was operated on for cataracts by the Dr. M. Márquez. At the same time, he presented joint pain, lightning pain especially in their lower extremities, ataxic gait, Romberg's sign, complete blindness and the impossibility of standing up, as a result he had to stay in the bed until his death. I think that Galdós suffered from tertiary syphilis (late) manifested by tabetic neurolues and ocular syphilis, which was the cause of his blindness, and besides arterioloesclerosis and hypertension.
Hernández
Manuel Herrera
MH
Real Academia de Medicina de Santa Cruz de Tenerife. mherrerahe@comlp.es
D002386:Cataract; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D008093:Literature, Modern; D013030:Spain