Jacques Guillemeau (1550 - 1613) was a French
surgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a person who performs surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such to remove a diseased organ or to repair a tear or breakage. Surgeons may be medical doctors,...
from
OrleansOrléans is a commune in north-central France, about southwest of Paris. It is the capital of the Loiret department and of the Centre region.The commune is located on the Loire River where the river curves south towards the Massif Central....
. He is credited for making pioneer contributions in the fields of
obstetricsObstetrics is the surgical specialty dealing with the care of women and their children during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal. Midwifery is the non-medical equivalent...
and
ophthalmologyOphthalmology is a branch of medicine which deals with the diseases and surgery of the visual pathways, including the eye, hairs, and areas surrounding the eye, such as the lacrimal system and eyelids. The term ophthalmologist is an eye specialist for medical and surgical problems...
.
He was a surgeon at
Hôtel-Dieu de ParisThe Hôtel-Dieu is regarded as the oldest hospital in the city of Paris, France, and is the most central of the Assistance publique - hôpitaux de Paris hospitals. The hospital is linked to the Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes...
, and a favored student of
Ambroise ParéAmbroise Paré was a French surgeon. He was the great official royal surgeon for the kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III and is considered as one of the fathers of surgery. He was a leader in surgical techniques and battlefield medicine, especially the treatment of wounds...
(1510-1590), who was also his father-in-law. Guillemeau, like Paré, was a surgeon to French royalty.
In 1584 Guillemeau published
Traite des maladies de l'oeil (Treatise of Eye Diseases), which is considered to be one of the best
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
-era works in ophthalmic medicine.
Jacques Guillemeau (1550 - 1613) was a French
surgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a person who performs surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such to remove a diseased organ or to repair a tear or breakage. Surgeons may be medical doctors,...
from
OrleansOrléans is a commune in north-central France, about southwest of Paris. It is the capital of the Loiret department and of the Centre region.The commune is located on the Loire River where the river curves south towards the Massif Central....
. He is credited for making pioneer contributions in the fields of
obstetricsObstetrics is the surgical specialty dealing with the care of women and their children during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal. Midwifery is the non-medical equivalent...
and
ophthalmologyOphthalmology is a branch of medicine which deals with the diseases and surgery of the visual pathways, including the eye, hairs, and areas surrounding the eye, such as the lacrimal system and eyelids. The term ophthalmologist is an eye specialist for medical and surgical problems...
.
He was a surgeon at
Hôtel-Dieu de ParisThe Hôtel-Dieu is regarded as the oldest hospital in the city of Paris, France, and is the most central of the Assistance publique - hôpitaux de Paris hospitals. The hospital is linked to the Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes...
, and a favored student of
Ambroise ParéAmbroise Paré was a French surgeon. He was the great official royal surgeon for the kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III and is considered as one of the fathers of surgery. He was a leader in surgical techniques and battlefield medicine, especially the treatment of wounds...
(1510-1590), who was also his father-in-law. Guillemeau, like Paré, was a surgeon to French royalty.
In 1584 Guillemeau published
Traite des maladies de l'oeil (Treatise of Eye Diseases), which is considered to be one of the best
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
-era works in ophthalmic medicine. He is also credited for providing the first description concerning repair of
palpebralAn eyelid is a thin fold of skin that covers and protects an eye. With the exception of the prepuce and the labia minora, it has the thinnest skin of the whole body. The levator palpebrae superioris muscle retracts the eyelid to "open" the eye. This can be either voluntarily or involuntarily...
colobomaA coloboma is a hole in one of the structures of the eye, such as the eyelid, iris, retina, choroid or optic disc. The hole is present from birth and can be caused when a gap called the choroid fissure between two structures in the eye, which is present early in development in the uterus, fails to...
, an
eyelidAn eyelid is a thin fold of skin that covers and protects an eye. With the exception of the prepuce and the labia minora, it has the thinnest skin of the whole body. The levator palpebrae superioris muscle retracts the eyelid to "open" the eye. This can be either voluntarily or involuntarily...
defect he referred to as
paupieres accurcies.
In 1609 he published a work on obstetrics titled
De l'heureux accouchement des femmes, in which he first described a method of assisted breech delivery that was later popularized by other physicians, and sometimes goes by the name of "Mauriceau-Smellie-Veit maneuver". Guillemeau was a practitioner of the
podalic versionPodalic version is an obstetric procedure wherein the fetus is turned within the womb such that one or both feet present through the cervix during childbirth. It is used most often in cases where the fetus lies transversely or in another abnormal position in the womb...
for use in cases of
placenta praeviaPlacenta praevia is an obstetric complication in which the placenta is attached to the uterine wall close to or covering the cervix . It can sometimes occur in the later part of the first trimester, but usually during the second or third. It is a leading cause of antepartum haemorrhage...
, a procedure that was earlier revived by Ambroise Paré.
Other noted publications by Guillemeau include
Tables Anatomiques and
La Chirurgie Française.