Henri Parinaud was a French ophthalmologist and neurologist, most noted for his work in the field of neuro-ophthalmology

Neuro-ophthalmology

Neuro-ophthalmology is the subspecialty of both neurology and ophthalmology concerning visual problems that are related to the nervous system ....

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Early life

Henri Parinaud was born into a lower class family in 1844. His father died when Henri was only 19. He went on to study medicine at Limoges

Limoges

Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....

, and then in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1869. When the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

 broke out in 1870, Henri went to serve as a doctor with the Red Cross, where he earned a medal for Unusual Bravery.

Medical career

After the war, Henri returned to Paris to continue his studies. His thesis for medical school was on optic neuritis in acute meningitis in children, which earned him respect and recognition in the field. His other fields of work included multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...

, ophthalmoplegic migraine, hysteria

Hysteria

Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...

, supranuclear lesions, and concomitant squint; all in the realm of neurology

Neurology

Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...

. Henri also worked in the physiology of vision, where he worked on role of the visual receptors, the light sense, night-blindness, and color vision

Color vision

Color vision is the capacity of an organism or machine to distinguish objects based on the wavelengths of the light they reflect, emit, or transmit...

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Associated terms

Henri is well known for the medical term Parinaud's syndrome

Parinaud's syndrome

Parinaud's Syndrome, also known as dorsal midbrain syndrome is a group of abnormalities of eye movement and pupil dysfunction. It is caused by lesions of the upper brain stem and is named for Henri Parinaud , considered to be the father of French ophthalmology...

, which is, "A dorsal midbrain lesion such as pinealoma

Pinealoma

-Presentation:The pineal gland produces the hormone melatonin which plays a role in regulating circadian rhythms. A pinealoma may disrupt production of this hormone, and insomnia may result....

 which results in vertical gaze palsy, convergence-retraction nystagmus and light-near dissociation". Another medical term that applies to his name is Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome

Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome

Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome is the combination of granulomatous conjunctivitis in one eye, and swollen lymph nodes in front of the ear on the same side. Most cases are caused by cat-scratch disease, although it is an unusual feature of this condition...

(fever, papillar conjunctivitis and lymphadenopathy), a rare manifistation of cat scratch disease (caused by the bacteria Bartonella), that he first described.