Gholam A. Peyman (born 1 January 1937) is an Iranian American ophthalmologist, retina surgeon, and inventor. He is best known for his invention of LASIK eye surgery, a vision correction procedure designed to allow people to see clearly without glasses. He was awarded the first US patent for the procedure in 1989.
Life and career
Peyman was born in Shiraz, Iran. At the age of 19, he moved to Germany to begin his medical studies. He received his MD at the University of Freiburg in 1962. He completed his internship at St. Johannes Hospital in Duisburg, Germany in 1964 and at Passaic General Hospital in Passaic, New Jersey in 1965. Peyman completed his residency in ophthalmology and a retina fellowship at the University of Essen, Essen Germany, in 1969 and an additional postdoctoral fellowship in retina at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles in 1971. Peyman held the position of assistant professor of ophthalmology at the UCLA School of Medicine from 1971 and served as associate professor and then professor of ophthalmology and ocular oncology at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, University of Illinois at Chicago during 1971-1987.
Peyman held a joint appointment at the School of Medicine and also at the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at the Louisiana State University Medical University Medical Center in New Orleans during 1987-2000. During 1998-2000 Peyman held the Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Chair in Retinal Diseases. During 2000-2006, Peyman served as professor of ophthalmology, ocular oncology and co-director, Vitreo-Retinal Service, Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.
During 2006-2007, he was professor of ophthalmology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, with a cross appointment at University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. He has been emeritus professor of ophthalmology at Tulane University since 2009.
Peyman is currently professor of basic medical sciences at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix & Optical engineering at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Peyman was awarded in 2013 an honoree doctorate degree from the National University of Cordoba in Argentina.
The Invention of LASIK surgery and its improvements
At the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, Peyman, because of his interest in the effects of lasers on tissues in the eye, began evaluating the potential use of a laser to modify corneal refraction in rabbits. No prior study had existed on this concept. The laser was applied to the surface of the cornea using different patterns. This laser created significant scarring. His conclusions at that time were: 1) one has to wait for the development of an ablative laser and 2) one should not ablate the surface of the cornea but, instead, the ablation should take place under a flap in order to prevent scarring, pain and other undesirable sequelae. Peyman published the first article on this subject in 1980.
In late 1982, he read an article from IBM Laboratories, published in Laser Focus, describing the photo-ablative properties of an excimer laser on organic material. This was very exciting information, but, unfortunately, Peyman did not have access to this laser, which at the time was new and very expensive. By 1985 and beyond, many investigators were interested in ablating the corneal surface. However, because of his previous experience with the laser, Peyman wanted to avoid surface ablation in order to prevent potential corneal scarring and the pain associated with the removal of the corneal epithelium, necessary to expose the surface of the cornea. Therefore, in July 1985, he applied for a patent that described a method of modifying corneal refractive errors using laser ablation under a corneal flap. This US patent was accepted after two revisions and issued in June, 1989. Peyman performed a number of experimental studies evaluating the effect of various excimer lasers in collaboration with Physics Department of the University of Helsinki, Finland. Since he had purchased an Erb-Yag laser in the U.S., he evaluated the concept using this laser in vivo in rabbit and primate eyes and described the creation of a hinged corneal flap to enable the ablation to be performed on the exposed corneal bed, thus reducing the potential for postoperative scarring and pain.