Overview:
• Dr. Patricia Bath revolutionized cataract surgery with her invention of the 'Laserphaco Cataract Eye Surgery' in 1981.
• Her remarkable accomplishments include receiving a patent for the Laserphaco Probe in 1988, a surgical tool using laser technology.
• Dr. Bath's dedication to providing quality eye care has had a lasting impact on preventing blindness and treating eye diseases.
By Professor Sterling Haynes
Thanks to the invention of a Black woman cataracts no longer cloud our vision. Dr. Patricia Bath was an ophthalmologist who invented the “Laserphaco Cataract Eye Surgery” in 1981.
Dr. Patricia Bath was born in Harlem, New York, on Nov. 4, 1942, to Rupert and Gladys Bath, both of whom valued formal education. She was an exceptional student in her academic career.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Manhattan’s Hunter College in 1964. She relocated to Washington, D.C. to attend Howard University College of Medicine. Bath was awarded a one-year fellowship from Columbia University to study and contribute to eye care services at Harlem Hospital. She completed her residency in ophthalmology at New York University in 1973.
Through her studies she learned having access to quality eye care can help prevent blindness, cataracts, glaucoma and many eye diseases. Cataracts are cloudy blemishes that form in a person’s eye lenses. If left untreated cataracts can lead to blindness.
In 1988 Dr. Bath was awarded the patent for the Laserphaco Probe. It’s a surgical tool that uses a laser to vaporize cataracts via a tiny, 1-millimeter insertion into a patient’s eye.
The patient’s lens can also be replaced with an artificial lens to restore sight. Laserphaco Cataract Surgery patent no. 4,744,360.
Dr. Bath passed away on May 30, 2019 from cancer.