This research investigates the state and growth of artificial intelligence (AI) ethics in the field of ophthalmology, which showcases historical advances in the use of AI to medical imaging and diagnosis. To investigate this area, the authors performed a bibliometric analysis of 498 publications published from 2000 through mid-2023, retrieved from Web of Science and Scopus. The authors assessed trends in publication, collaboration networks, and common themes in ethics to examine how the field's focus, in the literature, has changed. The bibliometric analysis results demonstrate that, in terms of AI ethics research, ophthalmology is the second most common specialty represented in the literature, with substantial increases in output and output since 2018. Common ethical topics are trust, interpretability, fairness, privacy, safety and transparency. Fundus imaging and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging are the most frequently published assessments, where fundus studies address fairness and interpretability the most, and facial and anterior-segment imaging raise privacy concerns more than other imaging types. The authors reported that nearly 90% of papers discuss ethics as it pertains to AI itself, stating that only 11.5% provide dedicated ethical frameworks or policy recommendations. In a discussion, the authors acknowledge the transition of AI ethics from theory to application in the field of ophthalmology, increasing international collaboration, and greater attention to bias, data protection, and regulatory alignment. The authors identified the need for developing ethical guidelines and policies for health professionals to turn to in order to develop AI tools globally in a consistent manner.