Odette Duflo-Boujard (5 May 1929–12 December 2020)

Odette Duflo-Boujard, a doyen of French homeopathy, who pioneered the contemporary use of homeopathy in the treatment of eye ailments passed away December last.

Dr. med Duflo-Boujard offered her particular expertise and reassuring, convivial personality to colleagues and patients alike. She offered homeopathic ophthalmological consultations at the Saint- Jacques Hospital, at the Hahnemann and Saint-Augustin dispensaries and in her private practice in Paris. She was 91.

Dr. Duflo-Boujard received her medical degree in 1956 with an ophthalmology specialty. She met Michel Boujard (1927–1996), they married and both received homeopathic instruction at the Homeopathic Center of France from professors C. Dubost, L. de Mattos and E. Iliovici. She also studied with Leon Vannier, another notable. She served as assistant to Professors J.-Paul Bailliart and Paul Brégeat.

Odette, early on, decided to develop a modern practice in ophthalmology, using as a foundation the works of Francais D. Parenteau and A.B. Norton.[1] Later, in 1985, she created la Societe d'ophtalmologie homeopathique. This group held annual meetings during congresses of the National Federation of the French Homeopathic Medical Society. It was said one could feel the tremendous enthusiasm that she had for her specialty during the numerous conferences she attended and in her writings and published articles – some 50 of them. During the last decade or so, she had several publications in La Revue d'Homéopathie, a noted French classical quarterly.

With more than 60 years devoted to homeopathic medicine, that experience allowed her to contribute to several publications that reached a more mainstream audience, e.g. L'Encyclopédie médico-chirurgicale (1967), L'Encyclopédie des médecines naturelles (1995) and Comprendre l'homéopathie en France (2014). She penned three books, Traite d'ophtalmologie homeopathique (1978, 1988), Ophtalmologie homeopathique en pratique courante (2000) and L'homeopathie pratique pour les soins de l'oeil (2006).

From the 2006 reference, she offered three important roles that homeopathy could play in the contemporary ophthalmological practice: preventative, curative and in the treatment of new pathologies. In the first two, her stance was generally classical yet did suggest specifics for age-related macular degenerations detected early thanks to fluorescein angiography – to try to delay, by degeneration drugs such as Causticum, Aurum metallicum, Baryta carbonica and Plumbum). In the last role, new pathologies, she suggested for the ulceration caused by the Excimer laser (photo-refractive keratectomy), remedial treatment of Nit. ac., Merc. corr. and Arg. nit. She routinely recommended Graphites, Fluoricum acidum, Thiosinaminum and Kalium muriaticum for the aberrant scarring that caused central corneal opacity.

All cataract surgery will be helped by Arnica and China preoperatively and by Apis, Arnica, China and Ledum pal. postoperatively.

'With Olivier Rabanes, among others, I attended the rededication of the Dispensaire Hahnemann on Oct. 24, 2007 in Paris. This was the old office of Leon Vannier which he created in 1931. Odette was the former president of this noted homeopathic dispensary on rue Fabert'.

'We must also underline her determination and altruism: during her last year of liberal practice, our colleague went on a humanitarian mission in Peru for ophthalmological screening, [and supplying] glasses and homeopathic medicines intended for the populations scattered in mountain villages' (Alain Sarembaud, MD).

Material for this obituary was compiled from Rabanes and Sarembaud's Dictionnaire des auteurs d'ouvrages d'homéopathie en langue française (2003, p. 100) and from her obituary as published in La Revue d'Homéopathie (Alain Sarembaud, 12:2, pp. 113–114, June 2021). Also of interest may be the chapter devoted to her in Dr. med. Jacqueline Peker's Mes rencontres avec des homéopathes remarquables (2014, pp. 138–143).

‘The New York Ophthalmic Hospital was founded in 1852, under allopathic management and achieved ‘indifferent success.’ In 1867, it came under homoeopathic management with T.F. Allen at the helm. This book is an outgrowth of the success the hospital was able to claim. The book was enlarged to 342 pages and reprinted in 1882…’ (J. Winston, The Heritage of Homoeopathic Literature, p. 85).

Daniel Parenteau (1852–1938) was a noted French homeopathic physician and nephew of Pierre Jousset. Parenteau considered ophthalmology his specialty and enjoyed a long career at l'hopital Saint-Jacques and at several Paris dispensaries. He wrote Des manifestations oculaires de la syphilis (1884) and Education de l'oeil et de son hygiene. Le livre des meres (1889) and several journal articles, principally for L'Homoeopathie francaise (this journal was founded by his friend Leon Vannier in 1912). His final book, a synthesis of his experiences, Therapeutique homoeopathique en ophtalmologie, was published in 1934. He influenced others to pursue this specialty, Odette Duflo-Boujard being one.

Dr. Parenteau wrote on many topics under a pen name, Daniel Parr.

Publication History

Article published online:
31 December 2021