oldcrowcv63
Tech Sergeant
Thought this story might have special meaning for this forum:
From:
The Evolution of the Intraocular Lens in Cataract surgery - Colorado Laser Surgeons
"Harold Ridley was an eye surgeon in London who had cared for some injured Royal Air Force pilots from World War II. At least one pilot, during the Battle of Britton, had taken flight in his Spitfire fighter plane without time to put on his protective goggles. Enemy fire caused fragments of the canopy to shatter into the pilot's eyes. Doctor Ridley had noticed that retention of the intraocular particles of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) from the shattered canopy caused no long-term adverse effects. Later, during a typical cataract surgery of the 1948, a medical student observing the surgical removal of the clouded lens asked Dr. Ridley when he would put in the new lens. The medical student did not know that there was no lens implanted back into the eye. This naive question, together with Ridley's knowledge that a type of clear plastic material called PMMA was tolerated when it remained inside the eye, stimulated Ridley to seek manufacture of the first modern era IOL."
I saw a report on PBS that doctors are performing large scale operations using this technique in underdeveloped parts of the world to restore sight in patients who are otherwise without hope of benefiting from the technique and technology.
The Spitfire, the gift that keeps on giving. Of course it may have been a Bf-109's mg or cannons that initiated the sequence of events that resulted in development of the technology, so perhaps it deserves an honorable mention?
Happy New Year everyone!
From:
The Evolution of the Intraocular Lens in Cataract surgery - Colorado Laser Surgeons
"Harold Ridley was an eye surgeon in London who had cared for some injured Royal Air Force pilots from World War II. At least one pilot, during the Battle of Britton, had taken flight in his Spitfire fighter plane without time to put on his protective goggles. Enemy fire caused fragments of the canopy to shatter into the pilot's eyes. Doctor Ridley had noticed that retention of the intraocular particles of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) from the shattered canopy caused no long-term adverse effects. Later, during a typical cataract surgery of the 1948, a medical student observing the surgical removal of the clouded lens asked Dr. Ridley when he would put in the new lens. The medical student did not know that there was no lens implanted back into the eye. This naive question, together with Ridley's knowledge that a type of clear plastic material called PMMA was tolerated when it remained inside the eye, stimulated Ridley to seek manufacture of the first modern era IOL."
I saw a report on PBS that doctors are performing large scale operations using this technique in underdeveloped parts of the world to restore sight in patients who are otherwise without hope of benefiting from the technique and technology.
The Spitfire, the gift that keeps on giving. Of course it may have been a Bf-109's mg or cannons that initiated the sequence of events that resulted in development of the technology, so perhaps it deserves an honorable mention?
Happy New Year everyone!
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