This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Pallikaris, Kelman honored as innovators at ASCRS
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
SAN FRANCISCO — The wealth of information that is known about human vision pales in comparison to what has yet to be learned, said a surgeon honored during the Innovator’s Session here at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.
Ioannis G. Pallikaris, MD, PhD, struck a humble chord as he delivered the Charles D. Kelman Innovator’s Lecture. This is the first year the Innovator’s Lecture has borne an ophthalmologist’s name.
“Despite our improvements, we are still on our way to the unknown,” Dr. Pallikaris told several hundred colleagues at what was likely the ASCRS meeting’s best attended event.
Dr. Pallikaris said it is hard to pinpoint the optimal refractive target, so achieving perfection is an elusive goal for ophthalmologists.
“We probably don’t know what the optimal refractive target is because it is a ‘moving target,’” he said. “The ocular refractive state is not static … and our receptors mosaic is always changing.”
A realistic goal for ophthalmologists, Dr. Pallikaris said, is to “accept optical imperfections, because this represents the essence of human vision.”
Dr. Pallikaris, of the University of Crete, is the developer of a LASEK-like technique in which mechanical separation of the corneal epithelium is accomplished without the use of alcohol.
He dubbed the procedure “epi-LASIK,” from the Greek root “epi,” meaning superficial.
Dr. Pallikaris said his objective in creating the technique was to find a way to avoid using alcohol during LASIK, because histologic studies have shown that alcohol can affect the integrity of the epithelial basement membrane. The epi-LASIK technique helps maintain a healthier cornea during and after the procedure, he said.
Dr. Kelman was on hand to introduce the lecture that now bears his name. His speech avoided conventional ophthalmologic topics. Instead, he spoke about the characteristics of an innovator.
Innovation has little to do with intelligence, he said, and everything to do with creativity and the ability to listen to the inner muse.
“The creative act is as close as we can get to the divine,” Dr. Kelman said.
He urged ophthalmologists to be open to working with young practitioners who may not exactly fit the mold, but who exhibit a creative spark.
“How many potential Einsteins or Edisons of ophthalmology have been summarily rejected, we’ll never know,” Dr. Kelman said.
The Innovator’s Session also featured presentations by other leaders in the field, including I. Howard Fine, MD; Herbert Kaufman, MD; Robert Stegmann, MD; James P. Gills, MD; Stephen D. Klyce, PhD; and Gholam A. Peyman, MD. They each addressed aspects of ophthalmology that have revolutionized the field or that hold the potential to do so.