It was in 1919 that Wheeler,1 as a result of his vast and varied experience with World War I casualties, first described his halving procedure for "notch of the eyelid associated with laceration of the tarsus."
"An important point," he wrote in that famous paper, "is that tarsal incisions and skin incisions should never be in the same position, but should be made in such a way that there is overlapping. Thus, what is known in carpentry as halving is accomplished, and union is assured... Furthermore, recurrence of the notch formation is prevented." Although Wheeler2 subsequently extended his use of halving to all facial wounds, its primary sphere of ophthalmologic usefulness has always been the lid notch and coloboma whether congenital, surgical, or traumatic. Several features of the original Wheeler procedure which are occasionally forgotten today are well worth recalling. It will be noted from Figures 1A