Famous People with Eye Disease: What an Ophthalmologist Sees
Last updated: October 2026
Well-known people who lived with blindness or serious eye disease, with the likely diagnosis seen through an ophthalmologist's eyes. Many diagnoses in historical figures are educated guesses, so the confidence is noted.
Artists and writers
| Person | Who | Eye condition | Ophthalmology angle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Monet (1840–1926) | French Impressionist painter | Bilateral cataracts; right cataract removed in 1923 | His late paintings turned muddy and red-brown, then bluer after surgery: a classic lesson on how cataract changes colour perception |
| Edgar Degas (1834–1917) | French painter | Progressive central visual loss from mid-life, probably a macular disease | His work moved to pastels and coarser strokes as fine detail became impossible |
| John Milton (1608–1674) | English poet | Blind by 1652; cause debated (glaucoma or retinal detachment suggested) | Dictated Paradise Lost after losing his sight |
| Homer (c. 8th century BCE) | Greek poet | Traditionally described as blind | Legend rather than recorded history |
| Surdas (c. 1478–1583) | Indian devotional poet and singer | Traditionally said to be blind from birth | Composed the Sur Sagar; blindness is part of tradition |
| Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) | Argentine writer | Progressive hereditary visual loss, blind by his mid-50s (his father was affected too) | Became director of the National Library of Argentina the year he lost his reading vision |
| James Thurber (1894–1961) | American humorist and cartoonist | Lost his left eye to an arrow at age 7; the right eye later failed | Sympathetic ophthalmia is the usual explanation; he drew on huge sheets with thick crayon |
| Joseph Pulitzer (1847–1911) | Newspaper publisher | Retinal detachment and progressive visual loss in his 40s | Ran his newspapers through secretaries who read to him |
Scientists and leaders
| Person | Who | Eye condition | Ophthalmology angle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) | Astronomer | Blind by 1638; glaucoma or uveitis suggested | Popular stories blame solar observation; the evidence points more to glaucoma |
| Leonhard Euler (1707–1783) | Mathematician | Lost the right eye's vision in the 1730s; later cataract in the left eye left him nearly blind | Produced about half his work after losing his sight |
| Joseph Plateau (1801–1883) | Belgian physicist (persistence of vision) | Blind in later life; he blamed staring at the sun in an experiment | Solar retinopathy alone rarely causes complete blindness, so the cause is debated |
| Horatio Nelson (1758–1805) | British admiral | Lost sight in the right eye from a wound at Calvi (1794) | The origin of "turning a blind eye" |
| Louis Braille (1809–1852) | Inventor of braille | Injured one eye with an awl at age 3; the other eye failed soon after | Probably sympathetic ophthalmia or spreading infection; invented his six-dot code at 15 |
| Thomas Gore (1870–1949) | US senator | Blinded in both eyes by two separate childhood accidents | The first blind member of the US Senate |
| David Paterson (born 1954) | Governor of New York | Severe visual loss after an infant infection affected the optic nerves | The first legally blind US governor |
Musicians
| Person | Who | Eye condition | Ophthalmology angle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stevie Wonder (born 1950) | Singer-songwriter | Retinopathy of prematurity (born about 6 weeks early) | Often cited when teaching about oxygen and ROP |
| Ray Charles (1930–2004) | Singer and pianist | Lost his sight by age 7, usually attributed to glaucoma | A reminder that childhood glaucoma needs early surgery |
| Andrea Bocelli (born 1958) | Tenor | Congenital glaucoma; became completely blind after a football injury at 12 | Classic case of congenital glaucoma with poor visual outcome |
| Ronnie Milsap (born 1943) | Country singer | Congenital glaucoma | Blind from early childhood |
| Ravindra Jain (1944–2015) | Indian music composer and lyricist | Blind from birth | Composed for Hindi films and television |
| Doc Watson (1923–2012) | Folk guitarist | Lost his sight before his first birthday from an eye infection | Infective blindness in infancy |
| Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935–1977) | Jazz multi-instrumentalist | Blind shortly after birth (attributed to a medical treatment) | Played several saxophones at once |
Sport and achievement
| Person | Who | Eye condition | Ophthalmology angle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helen Keller (1880–1968) | Author and activist | Deaf-blind after an illness at 19 months | Taught by Anne Sullivan, who herself had trachoma |
| Erik Weihenmayer (born 1968) | Mountaineer | Juvenile X-linked retinoschisis; blind by 13 | First blind person to climb Everest (2001) |
| Marla Runyan (born 1969) | Olympic runner | Stargardt disease | Competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics |
| Srikanth Bolla (born 1991) | Indian industrialist | Blind from birth | Founder of Bollant Industries |
| Esref Armagan (born 1953) | Turkish painter | Born blind | Paints perspective and shading by touch: studied by neuroscientists |
| Abraham Nemeth (1918–2013) | Mathematician | Born blind | Created the Nemeth braille code for mathematics |
This page was rewritten in October 2026 in our own words. Historical diagnoses are interpretations, not medical records.
Related: Important history in ophthalmology, Fathers of ophthalmology, Levels of visual impairment, Fun with eyes.
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📘 Want the exam-ready deep dive? This topic, and much more is covered in Ophthalmology Explorer (A High-Yield Clinical Reference for Ophthalmology Residents, Fellows & Board Exams) — available on Kindle. See all my books.
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