Harold Ridley (ophthalmologist) 1222880 224081062 2008-07-07T05:56:00Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other '''Sir Nicholas Harold Lloyd Ridley''' <ref> [http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-761211/Sir-Nicholas-Harold-Lloyd-Ridley Sir Nicholas Harold Lloyd Ridley] at Britannica.com</ref> ([[10 July]] [[1906]], [[Kibworth Harcourt]], [[Leicestershire]] &ndash; [[25 May]] [[2001]], [[Salisbury, Wiltshire]]) was an [[England|English]] [[ophthalmologist]] who pioneered artificial [[intraocular lens]] transplant surgery for [[cataract]] patients. ==Early years== He 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]]. 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 consulted surgeon in 1946. ==Cataract operations and intraoccular lenses== [[Image:Plaque for Harold Ridley's first intraocular lens at St Thomas' Hospital.jpg|thumb|right|150px|First permanent insertion of intraocular lens, [[8 February]] [[1950]]]] Whilst working with [[Royal Air Force]] casualties during [[World War II]], Ridley noticed that when splinters of [[acrylic glass|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. He had a lens manufactured using an identical plastic – [[Perspex CQ]] made by [[Imperial Chemical Industries|ICI]] – and on [[29 November]] [[1949]] at St Thomas' Hospital, Harold Ridley achieved the first implant of an intraocular lens, although it was not until 1950 that he left an artificial lens permanently in place in an eye. The first lens was manufactured by the [[Rayner (company)|Rayner]] company of Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, a company which continues to manufacture and market modern, small-incision versions of these lenses today. In 1952 the first IOL implant was performed in the United States, a Ridley-Rayner lens implanted at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. 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 complications, and had refined the technique by the late 1960s. With his pupil [[Peter Choyce]] he eventually achieved worldwide support for the technique, and the intraocular lens was finally approved as "safe and effective" and approved 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 commonest type of eye surgery. ==Other work and later life== Harold Ridley also led important research into [[onchocerciasis]] when he was stationed in [[Ghana]] for part of his war service in [[World War II]]. 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 of England|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. Sir Harold Ridley resided in Wiltshire until his death on [[25 May]] [[2001]]. ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.haroldridley.com/ haroldridley.com] site about the biography by David J. Apple, M.D. * [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8123-2368325,00.html "A visionary recognised"] profile marking the centenary of his birth in [[The Times]] September 22, 2006 * [http://www.crstoday.com/Old%20Archives/0304/crst0304%20art/crst0304_f1_apple.pdf "Sir Harold Ridley"] in ''Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today'' March 2004 * [http://www.who.int/entity/bulletin/volumes/81/10/756-757%20(03816).pdf "A pioneer in the quest to eradicate world blindness"] in the Bulletin of the [[World Health Organization]] 2003 * [http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-27492002000100025&lng=en&nrm=iso "He changed the world - So that we might better see it"] in the ''Arquivos Brasileiros de Oftalmologia'' February 2002 * [http://bjo.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/85/9/1022 "Valediction: Sir Harold Ridley's vision"] in the ''British Journal of Ophthalmology'' September 2001 * [http://www.rayner.com/history.php?id=3&start_num=0 The Birth of the IOL] part of the history of Rayner, manufacturer of the first [[Intraocular lens|IOL]] * [http://www.rayner.com/history/Invention_of_IOL.pdf "Harold Ridley and the Invention of the IOL"] in ''Survey of Ophthalmology'' January 1996 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ridley, Harold}} [[Category:1906 births]] [[Category:2001 deaths]] [[Category:English inventors]] [[Category:British ophthalmologists]] [[Category:English doctors]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge]] [[Category:People from Leicestershire]] [[Category:Old Carthusians]] [[de:Harold Ridley]]