Harold Ridley (ophthalmologist)
| Harold Ridley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nicholas Harold Lloyd Ridley 10 July 1906 Kibworth Leicestershire |
| Died | 25 May 2001 (aged 94) Salisbury Wiltshire |
| Institutions |
University of Cambridge St Thomas' Hospital Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Intraocular lens |
| Notable awards |
Fellow of the Royal Society Knight Bachelor |
Sir Nicholas Harold Lloyd Ridley (10 July 1906, Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire – 25 May 2001, Salisbury, Wiltshire) was an English ophthalmologist who invented the intraocular lens and pioneered intraocular lens surgery for cataract patients.
Nicholas Harold Lloyd Ridley was the son of Nicholas Charles Ridley and his wife Margaret, née Parker; he had a younger brother, Olden. Harold had a stammer which he largely managed to cure. As a child he met and sat on the lap of Florence Nightingale, a close friend of his mother. 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 both St Thomas' Hospital and Moorfields Eye 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.
During World War II, Ridley saw Royal Air Force casualties with eye injuries, including Squadron Leader Gordon "Mouse" Cleaver of 601 Squadron. Ridley observed that when splinters of acrylic plastic from aircraft cockpit canopies became lodged in their eyes, this did not trigger inflammatory rejection as did glass splinters.
This led him to propose the use of artificial lenses made of Perspex in the eye, to treat cataract. He had a lens manufactured using the same material – brand name Perspex made by 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 8 February 1950 that he left an artificial lens permanently in place in an eye. The first lens was manufactured by the Rayner company of Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, a company which continues to manufacture and market modern, small-incision intraocular lenses today.
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