In Contact - February 2009

Over the twenty year course of writing In Contact it has unfortunately been necessary for me to record the passing of some contact lens greats.
Frederick John Eric Sellers: 20/4/1925 ? 20/12/2008

It was a sad occasion when I was advised of the passing of Eric Sellers in late December 2008, following hospitalisation for a stroke some weeks prior. We attended his funeral the day before Christmas.
Eric was one of very few New Zealand contact lens experts during the early 1960s, and he achieved much in his time. He practised optometry specialising in contact lenses in the UK, South Africa and NZ and thus had a broad range of exposure to different philosophies. He was able to bring together the best of these. Coupled with his experience and pioneering nature, this stood him in good stead to become one of the top contact lens practitioners in Auckland. There were not many around at the time. This resulted in very successful contact lens practice, for around thirty years in NZ.
He was by all accounts quite a character and a widely respected contact lens pioneer. He practised exclusively at Barry & Beale Optometrists from 1961 until the early ?90s. He?d been head-hunted to set up practice in Auckland catering to these new-fangled devices, which the forward-thinking partners saw as an important development in eye care.
In his time Eric developed contact lens designs, systems and technologies. A number of these innovations are still in use today. Eric?s Haag-Streit slit lamp is still put to good use in one of our consulting rooms, as are his BOBES chair and stand and a modified Nikon projection vertometer for analysing contact lenses. The original AO Radiuscope he purchased is in daily use and still accurate to within 0.01mm. We also use the contents of a 20 gallon drum of contact lens polishing powder that he imported decades ago. A number of other items have been archived, including Eric?s favourite lens fenestrator.
His legacy lives on.

Pioneering Days

In the pioneering days of RGPs there were only a few people around the world who had the necessary ability, temerity and patience to practise at this level. Oedema was a major issue in the early days of any form of contact lenses. Central corneal clouding was regarded by some as the order of the day. Eric was a fan of fenestration and many of the lenses fitted by him had three fenestrations in a triangular arrangement around the optic zone area. This helped keep many patients going. Many of these original patients fitted by Eric in the 1960s are still seen on a daily basis. He collaborated with other contact lens greats around the world, including the legendary George Jessen.
Eric, George, my father Sid and others, helped develop the small optic zone, small-diameter, multicurve PMMA lenses - that together with the aid of the tear pump, helped reduce the levels of hypoxia-induced oedema to manageable levels. This obviously worked very well and kept patients going with decent wear time and minimal ?spectacle blur? until RGPs came along a decade or two later, in the late 1970s. I've just seen two of these very patients, one after the other. Fitted in the sixties and seventies, they?ve gone on to have excellent results with refractive cataract surgery. It's a fact that the maintenance of corneal integrity and thus minimal influence on the sensitive endothelium over the decades of PMMA & RGP wear, have allowed such success with refractive cataract surgery. Coupled with minimal physical effects on the cornea, this has allowed for fast and easy pre-IOL corneal stabilisation and enhanced outcomes. I?ll write more on such issues in future columns.
Hardly a day goes by where I don't see at least one of these long-term patients. They often ask after Eric. They usually have a story or anecdote to share regarding his character, skill or sense of humour!
These respectful anecdotes and excellent outcomes are the greatest testament to Eric?s prowess in contact lenses and something I greatly respect and admire
It has been my pleasure to be able to take over the long-term care of these patients since I joined B+B in the mid ?90s.
I see, on a regular basis, patients now wearing lenses for approximately forty to fifty years. Many were complex fits and include high myopes, hyperopes & astigmats, keratoconics, grafts, scarred corneas and aphakes.
On hearing of Eric?s passing my father now in his 57th year of optometric practise had this to say;
?The news of Eric?s passing brought memories of the early days of fitting contact lenses; I started in 1958 and would guess that Eric had already arrived in South Africa from England about that time. They were pioneering times when skill, patience, perseverance and strong nerves were the order of the day. Lenses were ordered from America and England (Jessen and Nissel!!) and a willingness to burn the midnight oil and go where few had gone before were essentials. I well remember that Eric was one of few Contact Lens practitioners of the time who earned my respect for his approach to his patients and his profession.
Strange in some ways that my son Alan ?inherited? many patients from Eric when he retired like I did when he left South Africa. It was always a pleasure and privilege to continue to care for the patients that Eric had cared for.
I'm certain that Alan has the same thoughts regarding the patients that were originally cared for by Eric at Barry & Beale in Auckland.
It is a privilege to pay my respects to the memory of a fine Optometrist and Contact Lens specialist.?
Sid Saks. Pretoria South Africa
I do indeed share these thoughts. Eric had also mentored and provided a broad range of skills to former partners John Boyce and Grant Watters. Although no longer with Barry + Beale, John has a very successful contact lens practice on the East Coast of Australia as does Grant in the Eastern Bays of Auckland. Naomi Meltzer one of my current colleagues is also a beneficiary of Eric?s skills and continues to take great care of his former patients as do the rest of us at B+B. All who?ve worked with these patients are amazed at the skill and precision with which these people were fitted. On the whole their corneas are still in excellent shape: One can remove their modern RGP lenses and obtain a spectacle refraction very close to that prior to fitting. Even where myopic progression has occurred K readings and astigmatism remain stable.
Eric was a renowned writer and international speaker. From the early 1960s he took part in international conferences in England, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Read more on this elsewhere in this edition and in the CCLS publication ?History of the New Zealand Contact Lens Society 1958-2007?
When something needed doing he got on and did it as was the case when he edited New Zealand?s only eye care journal of the time. He also explained to me how a 12.25 curve on the periphery on a hard lens came into being. This was simply because this was the radius of curvature of a standard ball bearing at the time [probably from a train wheel or something of that magnitude]. To create a polishing or grinding tool, ball bearings of various radii were simply welded onto a shaft which was mounted onto a refrigerator motor. For polishing, velveteen was placed over the top of the tool, or a more abrasive surface was used if necessary. We still use such tools on a daily basis.
Although I never worked with Eric, It's little things like this that I remember, as was the occasional A4 envelope that would arrive at work with a brief letter and a few old journal articles, copies of his lectures or intricate drawings of corneal and scleral lenses. I?ll miss these interactions.
Seeing the excellent long-term results on a daily basis is however the best testament to his ability.
RIP Eric.

 

For more information or any comments email Alan at incontact@optom.co.nz.