O phthalmologists practising in the developed world at the beginning of the 21st century may be surprised to learn that visual loss from ophthalmia neonatorum was once a major public health problem. In England in the mid-1800s, there was a hospital devoted solely to the lavage of infants with gonococcal ophthalmia. Fortunately, the work of Crede, who developed prophylaxis with 2% silver nitrate...