(1906 - 2001)
Artificial Lens Transplant Surgery for Cataract Patients
Harold Ridley was educated at Charterhouse School before studying at Pembroke College, Cambridge from 1924-1927, and completed his medical training in 1930 at St Thomas' Hospital.
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Subsequently he worked as a surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital in London, specialising in ophthalmology. In 1938 Ridley was appointed full surgeon and consultant at Moorfields Hospital and later appointed consultant surgeon in 1946.
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Whilst working with Royal Air Force casualties during the Second World War, Ridley noticed that when splinters of perspex from aircraft cockpit canopies became lodged in the eyes of wounded pilots, they did not trigger rejection, leading him to propose the use of artificial lenses in the eye to correct cases of cataracts.
Video: Alila Medical Media • Shutterstock
Ridley went on to develop comprehensive programmes for cataract surgery with intraocular implants and pioneered this treatment in the face of prolonged strong opposition from the medical community. He worked hard to overcome all the complications and had refined the technique by the late 1960s. With his pupil Peter Choyce he eventually achieved worldwide support for his technique, and the intraocular lens was finally approved as "safe and effective" for use in the USA by the Food and Drug Administration in 1981. These first FDA approved lenses, (Choyce Mark VIII and Choyce Mark IX
Anterior Chamber lenses) were manufactured by Rayner. Cataract extraction surgery with intracocular lens implantation is now the most common type of eye surgery.
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Ridley retired from NHS hospital service in 1971 and received many awards over the next 29 years. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the Royal Society. In February 2000, Harold Ridley was knighted by HM Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in London.
Source: Wikipedia
Images: Believed to be in the Public Domain or used with permission
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