Theodor Axenfeld

Karl Theodor Paul Polykarpus Axenfeld (June 24, 1867 - July 29, 1930) was a German ophthalmologist who was born in Smyrna (İzmir) in the Ottoman Empire to a German minister. As a child his family moved back to Germany in the town of Godesberg. He received his medical doctorate in 1890 from the University of Marburg. In 1896 he became an assistant to Wilhelm Uhthoff (1853-1927) in Breslau, and in 1897 a director of the university eye clinic in Rostock. In 1901 he attained the chair of ophthalmology in Freiburg, where he remained until his death in 1930. In 1925 he was chosen as president of the German Ophthalmological Society (Deutsche ophthalmologische Gesellschaft).

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Axenfeld was involved in all aspects of ophthalmology and is associated with almost 200 written works concerning the eye, including an important textbook of ophthalmology in 1909. He also published numerous articles on glaucoma, retinal disorders, trachoma and other eye maladies. He was particularly interested in bacterial infections of the eye. In 1909 he was awarded the Graefe Medal by the German Ophthalmological Society for his research of sympathetic ophthalmia. Axenfeld has several eponymous ophthalmic terms named after him, including:

• Axenfeld's conjunctivitis: Conjunctivitis caused by Moraxella lacunata. Sometimes called Morax' disease; named after Victor Morax (1866-1935), who also described the disorder.
• Axenfeld's nerve loop: A posterior ciliary nerve loop that is noticeable in the sclera.
• Axenfeld syndrome: A syndrome characterized by corneal embryotoxon (posterior arcuate ring), a distinct Schwalbe's line and iris adhesion to Schwalbe's line.