Name Perry Rosenthal | ||
Perry Rosenthal (born September 2, 1933), is a Canadian-born American eye surgeon and professor of ophthalmology, known for his work in the development of the first gas-permeable scleral contact lens. He became founding president of the non-profit Boston Foundation for Sight in 1992, and was its president and a director until 2012. In 2013, he founded the non-profit Boston EyePain Foundation, in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Rosenthal has written and lectured extensively on contact lenses and corneal disease.
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Education and Career
Following his graduation from McGill University Medical School in May 1958, Rosenthal completed his internship at Montreal General Hospital from July 1958 through July 1959. From September 1959 until April 1960, he completed a basic science course in ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. He served as a resident in ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary between July 1960 and January 1963, then joined the infirmary staff. From 1963 to 1998, Rosenthal was in private practice and a staff surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He was then named to the infirmary’s courtesy staff, and, since 2013, has been an emeritus member. Rosenthal has been a part-time Assistant Clinical Professor in Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School since 1984.
Work on contact lenses
While training as a resident at Harvard's Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Rosenthal founded the hospital's contact lens clinic. He subsequently became a co-founder of Polymer Technology Inc., which developed Boston Lens products, including a rigid gas-permeable plastic that allowed the corneas to breathe normally through the contact lenses. Polymer Technology Inc. was subsequently acquired by Bausch & Lomb, of which Rosenthal became a director. In 1986, Rosenthal developed a practical, gas-permeable scleral contact lens to treat and restore vision of eyes with many corneal diseases. Such lenses have since been widely adopted in clinical practice, with ongoing research and development to improve them. In 1992, Rosenthal created the non-profit Boston Foundation for Sight to provide these devices to all whom they can benefit, regardless of their ability to pay. In the years since, Rosenthal has lectured on contact lens developments to professional and industry organizations, and written extensively on the topic, as with a 1994 guest editorial on theoretical applications of his contact lens work to the automotive industry, in a 2009 article describing the evolution of ocular surface prostheses, and as an editorial board member of the non-profit Scleral Lens Education Society.
Work on oculofacial pain
While at the Boston Foundation for Sight, Rosenthal observed patients suffering from unusually severe, unrelenting eye pain often accompanied by disabling headaches, hypersensitivity to light and/or pain perceived as originating from their ears, around and behind their eyes, face and even jaws and teeth. Nevertheless, because their eyes and other areas above their neck perceived as the source of pain were normal on detailed examinations, these patients were often believed to be exaggerating or fabricating their symptoms.
Theory and definition of oculofacial pain as an overlooked disease of the trigeminal pain system
Rosenthal examined 200 patients with this disease of the pain system, of whom 21 had undergone laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) or similar corneal surgery prior to the onset of this disease of the trigeminal pain system. Rosenthal outlined his theory in a paper titled Chronic Pain Following Laser Keratorefractive Surgery, suggesting that the pain is projected from a pain-modulating center in the brain, and that its perceived origins are an illusion, thereby explaining the disparity between symptoms and signs of their cause.
British Journal of Ophthalmology article and dry-eye disease debate
On May 5, 2015, the British Journal of Ophthalmology published a paper by Rosenthal and David Borsook describing a theory of dry eye disease. They argued that there are two principal categories of this disease; one caused by damaged tear-producing glands, and a second in which chronic dry eye symptoms are caused by malfunctions in the nerves of the dry eye alarm that evolved to monitor the tear film thickness. This alarm, they argue, triggers eye symptoms when evaporation has thinned the eye's tear film to the point of it threatening to break up and degrade vision. Rosenthal and Borsook posit that many if not most dry eye-like symptoms represent hypersensitivity to tear evaporation similar to false alarms. A 2013 review of the causes of post-LASIK tear dysfunction and neuropathic pain includes references to Rosenthal's work.
Honors and awards
• 1987 Trailblazer’s Award, Contact Lens Manufacturers Association (CLMA)
• 1994 Joseph Dallos Award (CLMA), given annually for "outstanding contribution to the development and advancement of the contact lens industry and for service to humanity," in memory of the Hungarian-born British ophthalmologist Josef Dallos, a pioneer in the development of the first contact lenses.
• 2002 Named a Tech Laureate by the Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, California, for technology benefiting humanity.
• 2007 Founders Award: American Academy of Optometry
• 2012 Dr. Donald R. Korb Award for Excellence, annual meeting of the American Optometric Association
Publications
1. Leibowitz H.M., Rosenthal P. "Hydrophilic contact lenses in corneal disease."Archives of Ophthalmology, 1971; 85: 163-6, 283-6.Online
2. Rosenthal P. "A clinical evaluation of the RX56 contact lens." Contact and Intraocular Lens Medical Journal, 1976; 220-5.
3. Sendele D., Kenyon K.R., Mobilia E.F., Rosenthal P. "Superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis in contact lens wearers." Ophthalmology, 1983; 90: 616-22.Online
4. Chou M.H., Rosenthal P., Salomone S.C. "Efficacy of cleaning solutions on silicone/acrylate gas-permeable contact lens materials." Contact Lens Forum, August 1985.
5. Rosenthal P., Chou M.H., Salamone S.C. "Quantitative analysis of chlorhexidine gluconate and benzalkonium chloride adsorption on silicone/acrylate polymers." Cataract and Intraocular Lens Medical Journal, 1986; 1:43-50.
6. Schein O.D., Rosenthal P., Ducharme C. "A gas-permeable scleral contact lens for visual rehabilitation." American Journal of Ophthalmology, 1990; 109: 318.
7. Rosenthal P., Cotter J.M. "Clinical performance of a spline-based apical vaulting keratoconus corneal contact lens design." CLAO Journal, 1995; 21: 42-46.
8. Cotter J.M., Rosenthal P. "Scleral contact lenses." Journal of the American Optometric Association, 1998; 69: 33-40.
9. Rosenthal, P., Cotter, J.M, Baum, J. "Treatment of persistent epithelial defect with extended wear of a fluid-ventilated gas permeable scleral contact lens." American Journal of Ophthalmology, 2000; 130: 33-41.Online
10. Romero-Rangel, T., Stavrou, P., Cotter, J., Rosenthal, P., Foster, S. "Gas permeable scleral lens therapy in ocular surface disease." American Journal of Ophthalmology, 2000; 130: 25-32.
11. Rosenthal, P., Croteau, A. "Fluid-Ventilated, gas-permeable scleral contact lens is an effective option for managing severe ocular surface disease and many corneal disorders that would otherwise require penetrating keratoplasty." Eye & Contact Lens, 2005; 31 (3) (130-134).
12. Takahide, K., Parker, P., Rosenthal, P., et al. "Use of Fluid-Ventilated, Gas-Permeable Scleral Lens for Management of Severe Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca Secondary to Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease." Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, 2007; 13: 1016-1021.
13. Jacobs, D.S., Rosenthal, P. "Boston Lens Prosthetic Device for Treatment of Severe Dry Eye in Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease." Cornea, 2007; 26 (10): 1195-1195.
14. Borsook, D., Rosenthal, P. "Chronic (neuropathic) Corneal pain and Blepharospasm: five case reports." Pain, 2011; 152: 2427-31.
15. Rosenthal, P., Borsook, D. "The corneal pain system. Part I: the missing piece of the dry eye puzzle." The Ocular Surface, 2012; 10(1): 2-14.
16. Moulton E.A., Becerra L., Rosenthal P., Borsook D. (2012) "An Approach to Localizing Corneal Pain Representation in Human Primary Somatosensory Cortex." PLoS ONE 7(9): e44643. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044643.
17. Rosenthal, P., Borsook, D. "Ocular neuropathic pain." British Journal of Ophthalmology, 2015; 0:1–7. doi:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2014-306280.Online