Norman S Jaffe MD

When Norman S Jaffe MD placed his first intraocular lens (IOL) into a cataract patient’s eye on December 4th, 1967, the ophthalmology establishment still took a dim view of lens implants. Over the next few years that opinion would reverse, due in no small part to Dr Jaffe’s efforts.

Dr Jaffe’s pioneering work as a clinician, researcher, teacher and technology advocate helped to conclusively demonstrate – and improve – the safety and efficacy of IOLs. In doing so he paved the way for millions of cataract patients to see clearly once again.

Over the course of his career Dr Jaffe performed more than 40,000 cataract surgeries himself, mostly at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami, US, and continued to see patients until shortly before passing away in February, at the age of 90.

“With Norm Jaffe's passing, we lost a pivotal figure in the history of contemporary ophthalmology,” said Stephen A Obstbaum MD. “He understood that ophthalmology's vocal leadership opposed IOL implantation, yet his belief in this procedure was so strong that he forged an academic alliance to study the results of IOL surgery. His leadership made IOL implantation a credible procedure.”

The Miami study

Dr Jaffe was among the first ophthalmologists to use lens implants in the US. He presented his initial patients at Grand Rounds at Bascom Palmer, where he served as a voluntary professor for several decades. Soon after implanting his first lenses, Dr Jaffe began training ophthalmologists in the Miami area in the new technique. But implants were controversial and still largely untested.

After 243 implant cases were completed in the Miami area, Edward W B Norton MD, Bascom Palmer’s founding chairman, met with Dr Jaffe to develop a plan for evaluating and validating the new technique. The result was a two-year moratorium on implant surgeries by private practice ophthalmologists beginning on October 1st, 1969.

During the hiatus the 243 patients were examined by ophthalmologists other than those who did the surgeries and their outcomes and complications assessed. The favourable report resulting from this early long-term outcomes study, along with new patient selection and procedure guidelines, lent new credibility and respectability to lens implant surgery. The practice quickly gained momentum in Miami and around the world.

Dr Jaffe and colleagues conducted other large-scale cataract surgery outcomes studies. Beyond their own findings, these studies jump-started subsequent long-term research sponsored by the US National Eye Institute, and laid the groundwork for further development of lens implant technology.

“Without his foresight and perseverance, the cause of IOL implantation would have been set back for many years. We’re all indebted to Norman as a leader, teacher, mentor and friend,” Dr Obstbaum said.

Organising for progress

As a firm believer in the benefits of lens implants, Dr Jaffe helped lead national and international efforts to promote the technology. As a teacher, he taught the technique to thousands of colleagues nationally and internationally.

Author of 13 textbooks, in 1972 he wrote one of the most widely read ophthalmology texts, Cataract Surgery and its Complications, and over the years revised it through six editions. A noted researcher, Dr Jaffe published 238 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

As an organiser within the profession, Dr Jaffe helped found the American Intra-Ocular Implant Society, now known as the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. As the organisation’s president in 1974 he helped convince the profession and the US Food & Drug Administration of the benefits of IOL implants, thus improving the quality of life of millions.

Dr Jaffe received his medical degree from the New York College of Medicine in 1946, and was certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology in 1951. A gifted athlete, Dr Jaffe played minor league baseball while attending medical school.

Three of Dr Jaffe's sons are also ophthalmologists. In 1988 he brought lens implant surgery to the People’s Republic of China, when he and his sons performed 23 lens implantations before an audience of 500 Chinese ophthalmologists.

Dr Jaffe’s contributions to the field are now widely recognised, notably by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, which expressed its appreciation and welcomed him as the Guest of Honour at its annual meeting in San Francisco in 1997. In 2003 Dr Jaffe was inducted into the Ophthalmology Hall of Fame.

“Dr Jaffe was truly a giant in the field of ophthalmology. It is impossible to overstate the contributions he has made not only in our field, but to medicine,” said David W Parke II MD, CEO of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “He will be missed by many of us at the Academy, where we will remember him as a pioneering clinician, a wonderful teacher and a great friend.”