Philipp Franz von Walther

Who was Philipp Franz von Walther?

Philipp Franz von Walther was a German surgeon and ophthalmologist who was a native of Burrweiler.

He studied medicine in Vienna under Georg Joseph Beer, obtaining his medical doctorate in 1803 from the University of Landshut. He subsequently served as a professor at the Universities of Bamberg, Landshut, Bonn, and Munich. Among his better known students were Johannes Peter Müller at Bonn, and Johann Lukas Schönlein and Cajetan von Textor at Landshut.

Walther is best known for his pioneer work in ophthalmology and ophthalmic surgery. In 1826 he described the first tarsorrhaphy for closure of a portion of the eyelids for partial ectropion. In the treatise Ueber die Hornhautflecken, he gave an early account of corneal opacity.

With Karl Ferdinand von Gräfe, he was co-editor of Journal der Chirurgie und Augenheilkunde, an influential journal of surgery and ophthalmology. Walther is credited with performing numerous experiments involving medical galvanism.

He died in Munich.