A REMINDER OF DON EZEKIELS PAST AMAZING CAREER

Apart from the awards reported in my  profile (Yet to be loaded onto the  new Site later this year), I have since received an “Award of Excellence” from the Global Specialty Lens Symposium on the pioneering work on gas permeable scleral lenses.

The most rewarding and proud achievement was the renewal of interest and the now wide availability of scleral lenses. Many practitioners have said that I must have a lot of money from the patenting of the use of a GP material for contact lenses. This I had never patented. I was seeing the whole range conditions with patients who without the lens would not have vision or comfort and yet it was very difficult to convince practitioners that the fitting of the lens was not difficult. The scleral lens was not widely available for patients.

We were using Boston materials so that when I wanted to get large blanks I flew to Boston and met with the then owners of Polymer Technology, Perry Rosenthal and Lou Major. When I asked for large blanks to make scleral lenses, Perry responded “no one fits scleral lenses any more” !! Subsequent to the publishing of the initial paper on GP scleral lenses, Perry visited me in Perth. I lined of a range of patients wearing the lenses who without would not had vision or comfort. I took him to the lab and showed him the whole process. No secrets. The rest is history.

The hardest part in the evolution of the GP scleral lens was (1) Getting large diameter blanks and (2). convincing practitioners that this is a needed lens for our patients and it is not a difficult lens to fit.

All lenses that I have worked on and developed are not rocket science but a logical scleral evolution.

So what I am up to now?

A company is working on a lens I developed.

I am active with patents and enjoying retired life.

Do have a wonderful Congress in Edinburgh—We are sad not to be there to meet old and new colleagues and friends.

Kind regards

Don