Marco Abbondanza

Early life and studies

Born in Naples, he is the son of Osvaldo Abbondanza, the Italian engineer who also invented the Rotary Keyboard Punching Machine.

Marco Abbondanza graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the Sapienza University of Rome in 1983 and holds both the Clinical Pathology and the Ophthalmology specialties from the same university. In 1988, following studies at the Fyodorov Eye Microsurgery Complex in Moscow (USSR), together with the director Svyatoslav Fyodorov, he obtained other surgical specialties. In 1997 he completed two post-university master's degrees in Ophthalmic Techniques of Invasive Surgery and Ophthalmic Techniques of Non-Invasive Surgery, from the Post-University Research Centre of the Sapienza University of Rome.

Medical career

From 1984, together with a team of Italian physicians, Abbondanza studied and developed a new incisional procedure capable of correcting visual impairments caused by keratoconus and maintaining stable the evolution of the pathology. In 1992 Abbondanza co-organized the 1st theoretical and practical Worldwide Course for Excimer Laser Users, held in Rome.

In 1993 Abbondanza developed a new surgical technique, improved in 2005, called Mini Asymmetric Radial Keratotomy (MARK). It consists of a series of microincisions, from 1.75 to 2.25 millimeters, always made with a diamond knife, designed to cause a controlled scarring of the area of the cornea affected by keratoconus, which changes its thickness and shape. This procedure, if done properly, is able to correct astigmatism and stabilize the first and second stages of the keratoconus, avoiding the need for a cornea transplant. Abbondanza has been the first to combine MARK surgery with Corneal collagen cross-linking for keratoconus and is known for being an ambidexter surgeon.

Innovator in the treatment of myopia, astigmatism, hyperopia and cataract, Abbondanza was the first to use, in 1988, the Radial Keratocoagulation technique in Europe. He also introduced in Italy the excimer laser and PRK in 1989 and Corneal collagen cross-linking, parasurgical treatment for keratoconus, in 2005. Abbondanza is a full member of several scientific organizations, including the International Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS), the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS), the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the American Society of Cataract and Reractive Surgery (ASCRS) and the Italian Society of Ophthalmology (SOI).