A lifetime of innovation in eye care

Mr Patrick Condon speaks to Priscilla Lynch about his distinguished career as one of Ireland’s pioneers in ophthalmology

“It’s been an extraordinary journey,” Mr Patrick Condon, a pioneer of cataract and refractive surgery in Ireland, said, summing up his life’s work in ophthalmology to the Medical Independent (MI).

Mr Condon recently launched his new book Eye Healthcare – A 90 Year History of Progress, which documents the training and careers of successive generations of Irish ophthalmic surgeons from the 1930s to the present day.

The book charts the major advances in eye care and service delivery over that time, particularly in cataract, refractive, and lens implant surgery. It also details the voluntary efforts by the Irish public who participated in various eye care programmes for glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, eye injuries, and corneal donation.

“My father was an ophthalmic surgeon before me and we both trained in London in the St Thomas Hospital group – he in the 1930s, I in the 1960s,” Mr Condon told MI.

“So I write about the difference in training systems for young ophthalmologists and the learning curve in eye surgery and how it has developed at an incredible speed for the last 75 years since Harold Ridley inserted the first lens implant.”

Mr Condon’s father, Dr Richard Condon, began his ophthalmic training 90 years ago at the Royal Eye Hospital in London during a transformative era in eye care. Richard was a contemporary of the legendary English ophthalmologist and scientist Sir Harold Ridley, who invented the intraocular lens (IOL) and pioneered its use in cataract surgery, implanting the first IOL on 29 November 1949.

Richard went on to implant the first IOL in Ireland in 1959 and worked to advance ophthalmic surgery in the country, with his son following in his footsteps.

During his own distinguished career, Mr Condon brought phacoemulsification (phaco) cataract surgery and other key ophthalmic surgical and care advancements to Ireland.

Innovation

Mr Condon studied medicine at the National University of Ireland, Dublin, and completed his ophthalmic residency training at the Royal Eye/St Thomas Hospitals in London in the 1960s.

He returned to Ireland in the early 1970s and was appointed Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at University Hospital Waterford. The move would have a lasting impact on Irish ophthalmic surgery and professional training.

“The main challenges back then were to bring modern eye surgery to Ireland,” he recalled.

“We ran courses for Irish ophthalmologists and we invited a lot of prominent American surgeons to come and operate with us and do the surgery there and teach us phacoemulsification firstly, small incision surgery, so that is how phaco surgery came to Ireland [in the 1980s], in Waterford through visiting surgeons.”

Mr Condon continued to travel to the US and other countries to witness and learn new surgical techniques, trial the latest instruments, and bring back cutting-edge knowledge to Ireland.

Public health

During that era, there was significant need for corneal transplant surgery in Ireland due to eye injuries in agriculture, industry, and sports, particularly hurling.

“In response to all those injuries we formed the Irish Fight for Sight Campaign, which was a charity-based organisation to raise money to increase awareness of sight issues and prevention of blindness. We raised millions, which we used to establish a diabetic retinopathy screening service in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which started a long time before the present national programme.”

He also helped establish a screening programme for glaucoma, funded by the Irish Fight for Sight Campaign in conjunction with the Department of Health, as well as the National Eye Bank in 1994 for corneal donations, based at the Irish Blood Transfusion Service on Mespil Road, Dublin.

Some of the conditions that may require corneal transplant include bullous keratopathy, keratoconus, corneal degeneration, trauma, scarring, ulcers, and chemical burns.

The Irish Eye Bank, where Mr Condon served as Medical Director, ceased accepting ocular donations in 2004 due to concerns around the potential transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). Corneas are considered to have a higher theoretical risk of vCJD transmission than blood. Consequently, ocular tissue has since been imported into Ireland. However, a new national eye bank is finally being established in Ireland this year, which Mr Condon welcomed.

Changing needs

As well as major surgical advances, Mr Condon noted changing causes of eye injuries over the decades. Traumatic penetrating ocular injuries caused by road crashes, a common presentation during his early career, were dramatically reduced thanks to the work of fellow Irish ophthalmologist Dr John Blake, who campaigned in the 1980s for better safety standards in cars.

“The windscreen injuries with the old windscreens were ferocious,” Dr Condon recounted.

“The damage to people’s faces and eyes was incredible, absolutely horrible, and at that time drink driving was common and seatbelts were not being worn. So we had horrific eye injuries.”

Following Dr Blake’s tireless campaigning, the move to replace toughened glass with laminate windscreens in cars and the introduction of compulsory seat-belt legislation ultimately led to the virtual elimination of perforating eye injuries from road traffic accidents.

But contact sports, particularly hurling, also posed a major risk of serious eye injury, Mr Condon noted.

“We approached the GAA to insist on mandatory, proper headwear for those playing hurling, and that finally came into force in 2010.”

However, he warned that cheaper imported helmets now entering the Irish market often do not offer sufficient protection and ongoing vigilance is needed.

Lifelong innovation

Mr Condon’s enthusiasm for innovation continued throughout his career. In collaboration with another Irish ophthalmology pioneer, Prof Michael O’Keeffe, he helped bring LASIK laser eye surgery to Ireland in 1993. It is now a standard procedure for vision correction.

After retiring from active surgery, Mr Condon continued working as a medical ophthalmologist and developed a strong interest in treating keratoconus and progressive myopia in children.

“The treatment of keratoconus has been revolutionised through the use of cross-linking and intracorneal rings…. And with increasing use of screens by children that impact on their vision is a big issue now.”

A proud legacy

Mr Condon’s contributions to Irish and international ophthalmology have influenced generations of clinicians and improved outcomes for countless patients. As he reflects on a lifetime of innovation and service, he remains deeply proud of the eye care legacy he and his father helped shape.

“I’ve always been interested in instrumentation and new ways of doing things. Looking back on the last 90 years, on my journey and my father’s, it has been absolutely extraordinary – all the changes and advances in eye care. I am proud to have been a part of that.”

Eye Healthcare – A 90 Year History of Progress can be purchased at: www.amazon.co.uk/Eye-Healthcare-90-Years-Progress/dp/1913529223

All royalties from the sale of the book support the Ridley Eye Foundation, a charity dedicated to treating cataract blindness in remote Himalayan regions of Nepal.