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Harold Ridley: The Development of a Plastic Implantable Lens

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Foundations of Ophthalmology

Abstract

Harold Ridley implanted an acrylic intraocular lens to correct surgical aphakia in a 45-year-old woman on November 29, 1949, having imagined and planned the procedure for over a decade. Ridley used Perspex (trade name for poly-methyl methacrylate) for the lens, after observing that traumatically embedded fragments of the plastic did not cause inflammation in eyes of British pilots. Visual results were relatively good among Ridley’s early patients, but several problems in lens design plagued efforts at long-term success. The science of biomaterials was then in its infancy, and collaboration with industry on medical research with commercial potential was distinctly uncommon. At first, the response to his surgery was muted, but as more complications were acknowledged criticism of the surgery grew. What seems like easily solvable flaws in lens design from a twenty-first century perspective took over 25 years to correct. The journey from revolutionary surgery to standard treatment of cataract involves several intersecting themes including scientific serendipity, experimental surgery, and entrepreneurship. Ridley initiated a cultural shift in how the treatment of age-related cataracts was perceived as a bearable curse of old age to symbol of bionic restoration.

“Moments of great cultural significance are often appreciated only in retrospect.”

Tony Judt [1] p. 390

“Until the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, academicians considered the worlds of the university and industry incompatible.”

Gordon K. Klintworth [2] p. 58

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Ophthalmology, and Pathology and Cell Biology, Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida, 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, MDC Box 21, Tampa, FL, 33613, USA

    Curtis E. Margo M.D., M.P.H.

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  1. Curtis E. Margo M.D., M.P.H.
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Correspondence to Curtis E. Margo M.D., M.P.H. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Byers Eye Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA

    Michael F. Marmor

  2. OHSU, Casey Eye Institute, Portland, Oregon, USA

    Daniel M. Albert

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Margo, C.E. (2017). Harold Ridley: The Development of a Plastic Implantable Lens. In: Marmor, M., Albert, D. (eds) Foundations of Ophthalmology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59641-9_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59641-9_14

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