This month, Review of Optometry concludes its important series of articles on the people who have made groundbreaking contributions to the contact lens field. This series represents a rare chance for us to truly make a difference. By educating ourselves about the giants on whose shoulders we stand, we make it possible to keep reaching for new heights. By understanding the scientific, social and technical challenges early contact lens pioneers faced, we can motivate and inspire ongoing technological development. And, by exploring the growth of contact lens specialty practices, we can see more clearly the foundation upon which every successful practice is built. As the Chair of the American Optometric Associations Cornea & Contact Lens Section, I was thrilled when the editors of Review brought this project to me. I am proud to have an opportunity to play a role in documenting our collective history as optometrists and contact lens specialists. Contact lenses, the largest subspecialty in optometry, have shaped our profession. In recent years, optometrys role in therapeutic care, surgical comanagement and other specialty areas has expanded in exciting ways, but contact lenses remain at the core of the optometric practice. We began the series in July with a look at the early pioneers who brought us the first practical contact lenses. In August, we examined developers of the modern contact lens, contact lens solutions, and our evolving understanding of the requirements of the cornea for successful lens wear. Finally, this month, we look at the people who built the first specialty contact lens practices. We cover not only the history butequally importantwhat is happening today and tomorrow in optometry.  This is primarily a story about optometry. Although many others have made great contributions to the field, it is beyond the scope of this project to cover them all. I hope you enjoy and learn from this salute to our profession. Viva la Contact Lens! Jack Schaeffer, O.D. SUPPORTED BY A GRANT FROM Alcon                           CooperVision

Following the introduction of contact lenses in the 1940s and 1950s and the rapid proliferation throughout the 1970s of new lens materials and designs, the first true contact lens specialty practices began to emerge.

In Part III of our series on pioneers in the contact lens field, we examine the groundbreaking practitioners who first eschewed spectacles to establish contact lens-only practices. Many of these individuals had an early interest in contact lenses and had been fitting rigid PMMA lenses since their introduction. So few doctors were fitting contact lenses at all that they rapidly became the recognized experts in their own communities, the educators of their peers and consultants to industry. And their practices flourished. Many are still considered leading practices today.

 

[ Laying the Foundation ]

Harold E. Davis, O.D., opened his practice in an industrial area near the Chicago stockyards and slaughterhouses in 1945. A -12:00D myope who wore contact lenses himself, Dr. Davis often spent his lunch hour talking shop with his friends George N. Jessen, O.D., and Newton K. Wesley, O.D., whose Wesley Jessen Plastic Contact Lens Company was located about 15 minutes away. The science of contact lenses just embraced me, Dr. Davis said. By the late 1950s, his practice was dedicated to them.

He continues to practice full-time at Davis Eyecare Associates, along with his son, Robert L. Davis, O.D. Although we have been successful, economics did not and still does not drive us, said Dr. Harold Davis. If you try to do the best you can for your patient, the rest will follow. Thats always the answer.

The same year that Dr. Davis launched his practice in Chicago, Charles Ted Bayshore, O.D., was opening his doors in Orlando, Florida. An early fitter of PMMA corneal lenses, Dr. Bayshore developed his own system of fitting and lectured about it around the world. By the early 1950s, his was a contact lens-only practice, as well. But, in addition to an interest in lens technology, Dr. Bayshorewho had run a Naval hospital in World War IIbrought military organization to his civilian practice. He put a recall system in place, established state-of-the-art communication systems, and was one of the first to inventory and market his lenses, according to Jack Joseph Yager, O.D., who joined the practice in 1973 and now owns it.

	[ Past Chairs: AOA CLCS ] P. Douglas Becherer, O.D. James A. Boucher, O.D. Wayne M. Cannon, O.D. Carmen F. Castellano, O.D. Ronald M. Cedrone, O.D. Harold E. Davis, O.D. Robert L. Davis, O.D. Burt W. Dubow, O.D. Arthur B. Epstein, O.D. Frank D. Fontana, O.D. Carl R. Golightly, O.D. G. Burtt Holmes, O.D. Rodger T. Kame, O.D. Douglas H. Kay, O.D. Kenneth A. Lebow, O.D. Jerome S. Lieblein, O.D. Melvin J. Remba, O.D. Lee E. Rigel, O.D. Jack L. Schaeffer, O.D. David B. Seibel, O.D. Roger F. Shaw III, O.D. Joseph P. Shovlin, O.D. Jack Solomon, O.D. Charlotte Tlachac, O.D. Barry M. Weiner, O.D.   [ Current CLCS Council Members ] S. Barry Eiden O.D. Randall F. Fuerst, O.D. Paul Klein O.D. Louise Sclafani, O.D. (Chair) Christine W. Sindt, O.D. Lamar G. Zigler, O.D.   [ Past Chairs: CLS AAO ] Joseph T. Barr, O.D. Charles Ted Bayshore, O.D. Solon Bud Braff, O.D. Richard D. Brannen, O.D. Daniel O. Elliott, O.D. Barry Farkas, O.D. William Fleischman, O.D. Michael G. Harris, O.D. Rodger T. Kame, O.D. Robert Koetting, O.D. Robert W. Lester, O.D. Stephen F. Lester, O.D. Harold Moss, O.D. Maurice Poster, O.D. Morton Sarver, O.D. Glenda B. Secor, O.D. Joseph P. Shovlin, O.D. Sheldon Wechsler, O.D. Jack Joe Yager, O.D. Stanley J. Yamane, O.D. Karla Zadnik, O.D.   [ Current CLS AAO Officers ] Timothy Edrington, O.D. Steven S. Grant, O.D. Loretta Szczotka-Flynn, O.D. [ Private Practice Leaders ] Gary Andrasko, O.D. Irwin Azman, O.D. Thomas Azman, O.D. Neal Bailey, O.D. Irving Bennett, O.D. Douglas Benoit, O.D. Peter Bergenske, O.D. Alan M. Berman, O.D. Bruce A. Bridgewater, O.D. Irvin M. Borish, O.D. Robert Buffington, O.D. Mitchell Cassell, O.D. Walter L. Choate, O.D. Bobby Christensen, O.D. Wiley Curtis, O.D. Kenneth M. Daniels, O.D. Robert Davis, O.D. Michael D. De Paolis, O.D. Victor M. Finnemore, O.D. Thomas M. Freddo, O.D. David Geffen, O.D. Rex Ghormley, O.D. Morton K. Greenspoon, O.D. Robert M. Grohe, O.D. John P. Herman, O.D. Cary Herschberg, O.D. Milton M. Hom, O.D. Jordan Kassalow, O.D. Patricia Keech, O.D. Robert B. Kennedy, O.D. John Kennedy, O.D. Donald R. Korb, O.D. Joan M. Exford Korb, O.D. Dennis M. Kuwabara, O.D. James Lanier, O.D. Jerome Legerton, O.D. Robert B. Mandell, O.D. Robert Morrison, O.D. Clarke D. Newman, O.D. Gregg Ossip, O.D. Thomas G. Quinn, O.D. Susan Resnick, O.D. Rhonda S. Robinson, O.D. Robert A. Ryan, O.D. Randall Sakamoto, O.D. John Schachet, O.D. Kirk L. Smick, O.D. Mary Jo Stiegemeier, O.D. Roger L. Tabb, O.D. Donald Tieg, O.D. Wayne W. Wood, O.D.   [ University-Based Practices] Charlotte E. Joslin, O.D. Ann Laurenzi, O.D. Timothy T. McMahon, O.D. Muriel M. Schornack, O.D. Jeffrey Sonsino, O.D. Barry Weissman, O.D.   [ Prominent Lecturers ] Louis J. Catania, O.D. Paul M. Karpecki, O.D. Ron Melton, O.D. Craig W. Norman J. James Thimons, O.D. Randall K. Thomas, O.D. Michael A. Ward   [ International Leaders ] Barbara Caffery, O.D. John DeCarle, O.D. Kathy Dumbleton, MOptom Desmond Fonn, MOptom Brien A. Holden, O.D. Lyndon W. Jones, O.D. Lisa Keay, BOptom Eric Papas, MOptom Fiona Stapleton, MOptom Helen Swarbrick, O.D. Deborah Sweeney, BOptom   [ Academia ] Mark P. Andr William J. Benjamin Jr., O.D. Edward S. Bennett, O.D. Patrick J. Caroline, O.D. Anthony A. Cavallerano, O.D. William Edmondson, O.D. Graham Erickson, O.D. Vinita Henry, O.D. Richard M. Hill, O.D. John Mark Jackson, O.D. Andrea M. Janoff, O.D. Lester E. Janoff, O.D. Janice Jurkus, O.D. Alan G. Kabat, O.D. Beth Kinoshita, O.D. Norman E. Leach, O.D. Meng C. Lin, O.D. Gerald E. Lowther, O.D. Carla J. Mack, O.D. Harue J. Marsden, O.D. William L. Miller, O.D. Bruce Morgan, O.D. Kelly K. Nichols, O.D. Jason J. Nichols, O.D. Neil Pence, O.D. Kenneth A. Polse, O.D. Marjorie Rah, O.D. Megan Schoff Joel A. Silbert, O.D. Jennifer L. Smythe, O.D. Joseph Sowka, O.D. Jeffrey J. Walline, O.D. Ronald Watanabe, O.D. James Saviola, O.D. [ Industry Leaders ] Derrick Artis, O.D. Erich Bauman, O.D. Rob Breece, O.D. Robin L. Chalmers, O.D. Michael Christensen, O.D. Richard Clompus, O.D. John P. Cummings, O.D. Sally Dillehay, O.D. Gary Edwards, O.D. Renee Garofalo, O.D. Joseph Goldberg Stanley Gordan, O.D. David Hansen, O.D. Nikki Iravani, O.D. Krist Jani, O.D. George Jessen, O.D. Lynn Lasswell, O.D. Brien Levy, O.D. John McNalley George Mertz, O.D. Giovanna Olivares, O.D. Michael D. Pier, O.D. Howard Purcell, O.D. David Sattler Cristina Schnider, O.D. Christopher Snyder, O.D. Harvey Sylvan, O.D. Ralph P. Stone, Ph.D. Nick Tarantino, O.D. Rick Weisbarth, O.D. Newton Wesley, O.D. Vince Zaccarro, O.D.   [ NEW AND FUTURE LEADERS ] Stephanie N. Baba, O.D. S. Todd Bowman, O.D. Brian Chou, O.D. Ian Ben Gaddie, O.D. Shawna Hill, O.D. Megan Hunter, O.D. Kelly Kerksick, O.D. Sarah A. Marossy, O.D. Amanda Mataya, O.D. Gregg E. Russell, O.D. Robert A. Ryan, O.D. Mark A. Ventocilla, O.D. David N. Yang, O.D.

Further up the East Coast, Paul Farkas, O.D., and Theodore W. Kassalow, O.D., established one of the nations premiere, high-end optometric practices in New York City in 1958. The partners long ago decided not to accept third-party insurance (other than Medicare) and still dont. They situated their practice on the second floor because ground level was considered too commercial, but Farkas & Kassalow was among the first practices to strike a middle ground between the business-oriented practice and the purely professional practice to form an organization that sought to be profitable by providing the best professional care for each and every patient.

Key to the practices long-term success, says Barry Farkas, O.D., nephew of the founder, is having the flexibility to grow and change with the market, but always maintaining a specialist mentality. That requires one to get involved early with the newest technologies to figure out who they work for and who they dont, he said. And you cant just rely on one or two favored lenses. We work with well over 300 different contact lenses, including many RGP lenses, daily disposables, multifocals, toric lenses, and specialty lenses for patients with keratoconus and other challenges. The practice has evolved considerably as the younger generation joinedfirst Dr. Barry Farkas, followed by Theodores son Jordan Kassalow, O.D., and Susan Resnick, O.D.

In St. Louis, another optometrist who had started dabbling in contact lenses early was Robert Koetting, O.D., the grandson of an optician and son of an optometrist. In 1962, I began to take contact lenses seriously and limited my practice to them, he said. He decided early on that his key market was affluent presbyopes, and did whatever it took to reach that market segment, including advertising in airline magazines for business travelers, hiring a PR agency, and becoming an arts patron.

Koetting and the other early contact lens practices converted a novelty into a successful specialty practice and showed the way for the rest of us, said Carmen F. Castellano, O.D., who now owns Koetting Associates. The way I practice today is all based on Koettings philosophy of going above and beyond the standard, he said.

Another of Dr. Koettings lasting contributions was the concept of the contact lens technician. He was one of the first to utilize technical assistants and multiple exam rooms to see more patients in a day. It was a concept that N. Rex Ghormley, O.D., refined in his own practice. He opened Vision Care Consultants in St. Louis in 1970, after working for Dr. Koetting for a few years, and focused exclusively on contact lenses for the next two decades. Whereas a typical practitioner at the time might have seen seven or eight patients in a day, Dr. Ghormley would see 30. I think we helped to educate people about how best to make use of technical staff and advanced, automated equipment in a professional practice, he said.

Other key early practitioners that laid the groundwork for the modern contact lens practices of today include Neal Bailey, O.D., in Ohio; Rodger T. Kame, O.D., and Melvin J. Remba, O.D., in California; Robert Kennedy, O.D., in Minnesota; Jack Solomon, O.D., in Florida; and Clarence McEachern, O.D., and Wayne S. Cannon, O.D., in South Carolina.

Others made tremendous contributions to contact lens practice through academic research, developing novel devices and identifying corneal anomalies. Many of them, including Donald Korb, O.D., in Boston, Robert Morrison, O.D., in Pennsylvania, Leonard Seidner, O.D., in New York and Morton Sarver, O.D., in California, have been profiled already in this series.

 

[ Learning From Each Other ]

In addition to establishing their own successful practices, the early contact lens practitioners shared their expertise with each other and with future generations. Many set up study groups specifically to share best practices.

The first of these was spearheaded by Dr. Koetting in the 1960s. He convinced a group of practitioners (Harold Davis, Clarence McEeachern, Danny Klaff, Jack Hill, George Bournachal, Bill Fleishman, John Kennedy, Tom Scarborough, Bob Head, Ted Kassalow, Burtt Holmes, and himself) to meet and discuss their successes every six months for 40 years.They called themselves the American Society of Contact Lens Specialists but were soon dubbed The Dirty Dozen, after the movie by the same name. The doctors in the study group became close friends. They shared tips on business practices, marketing, financials, lenses and solutions, fitting techniques, and personal problems and successes. They would all become prominent authors and sought-after lecturers in the field.

In the 1980s, many other practice management groups modeled themselves after the Dirty Dozen. They had names such as the EyeCare Management Group, the Obscene Thirteen, and the Mustache Group. These three, along with the original Dirty Dozen, and a second-generation spinoff of that group, all came together in the early 1990s for a joint meeting in Phoenix, which they called the Contact Lens and Anterior Segment Society, or CLASS. CLASS was a valuable source of contact lens education until the Attorneys General for Florida and several other states initiated investigations into these types of contact lens meetings.

[ Todays Leaders ]

Pioneers in the contact lens field are not hard to identify. Perhaps more challenging is to consider who leads the field today, now that contact lenses are an integral part of nearly every optometric practice. In advance, we offer the caveat that many fine individuals who played major roles in the development of the contact lens specialty have no doubt been left out. The oversight is our own, and we apologize in advance.

Certainly a good place to start is with the two organizations that have clearly led the way in contact lens practice. The Cornea and Contact Lens Section of the American Academy of Optometry (CLSAAO) was established in 1947 and was the source of nearly all formal contact lens education in the early years of the field. Its members are qualified as contact lens specialists or Diplomates, a distinction that is difficult to earn.

The American Optometric Associations (AOA) Contact Lens and Cornea Section (CLCS) was founded in June of 1981 by G. Burtt Holmes, O.D., James A. Boucher, O.D., M.S., Harold E. Davis, O.D., and Frank D. Uncle Frank Fontana, O.D. They hired Arthur R. Giroux, O.D., a retired Army colonel, to serve as director. We had 300 members before it even got off the ground, Dr. Fontana recalled. Today, there are more than 9,000 members, and the CLCS is a major force in educating practitioners, working closely with government agencies and the CLSAAO to protect consumers, and consulting with industry to bring better contact lens devices to market.

The past chairs of CLCS and the CLSAAO are all giants in the field who have helped to shape the contact lens industry over the past 60 years. They are listed on the side. Following them, we list leading contact lens practitioners, including those in traditional private practice settings, university-based and multiple-specialty practices, academia, and industry. Finally, we add to the list young optometrists who have already demonstrated great abilities and accomplishments in their careers and who will likely be recognized as some of the leaders of the next generation.

We have endeavored to list individuals only once in this article, even though they may fit into several different categories.

 

 

[ Special Thanks ] Special thanks to contributors Robert Davis, O.D.; Art Epstein, O.D.; and Glenda Secor, O.D., for their assistance with this series.