Ignipuncture (Latin: Ignis (fire) + puncture) is the procedure of closing a retinal separation by transfixation of the break via cauterization. The procedure was pioneered and named by Jules Gonin in the early 1900s.^[1] Due to the risk of severe complications and the advent of lasers for the controlled delivery of energy, ignipuncture became an obsolete procedure; since the 1980s, ignipuncture has been performed using safer techniques like endophotocoagulation.^{[citation needed]}