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He also | 9 discovered that oxygen transmissibility of hydrogel lensesis proportional to polymer water content and the reciprocal of lens thickness,2 findings that were laterMorton Sarver, O.D. (middle), and Michael Harris, O.D., J.D., M.S., F.A.A.O. (left), examining a research patient in 1975.1961 1962Wichterle develops a method for contact lens production by spin casting. First hydrogel lens patented by Wichterle in U.S.Robert Morrison visits Wichterle and begins experimenting with HEMA contact lenses. confirmed by his colleagues.Dr. Hill took a more physiological approach, exposing rabbit corneas to variously calibrated oxygen chambersand comparing the rates of swelling in those chambers to those of various contact lenses to determine the amount of oxygen being transmitted. This became known as the equivalent oxygen percentage (EOP) method and is still in use today.Dr. Hill later moved to Ohio State University (OSU), where he was a researcher, faculty member and eventually dean of the school of optometry. He continued his work on contact lenses, oxygen, and on the tear film and dry eye. Dr. Hill is renowned for establishing a solidbasic science foundation—but one that always had a practical bent. A superb educator, he always sought to translate his research findings in a way that would benefit clinical practice.At OSU, Dr. Hill collaborated with William “Joe” Benjamin, O.D., to study oxygen transmission in human corneas. Dr. Benjamin continues to carry the oxygen mantle. As the director of clinical eye research at the University of Alabama’s Vision Science Research Center, he is still exploring how Dr. Hill’s and Dr. Fatt’s oxygen measurements relate to one another. “People like to argue over which method is better, but the truth is that both are very useful and have comple-mented each other nicely,” Dr. Benjamin said. He believes that Dr. Hill’s greatest legacy may be that he was able to steer optometric research out of the limited realm of physiological optics and into the physiology of the entire eye, including the ocular surface. “We take it for granted now, but that was a huge jump for the field.”Drs. Fatt and Hill were not the only bright minds at Berkeley focused on the oxygen issue. Senior faculty members Robert Mandell, O.D., Ph.D., F.A.A.O., andMorton Sarver, O.D. (1922–1986), and two youngcolleagues of theirs, Kenneth Polse, O.D., M.S., F.A.A.O., and Michael G. Harris, O.D., J.D., M.S., F.A.A.O., all10 | collaborated on measuring corneal swelling duringcontact lens wear, and then correlated the amount of swelling to the amount of oxygen being transmitted. Three of them (Drs. Sarver, Polse, and Harris) eventuallyformed a research group that examined corneal swelling related to many different contact lens designs, fits and materials.Dr. Mandell is perhaps best known in the field for his classic textbook, Contact Lens Practice. He developed a hand-held topographer for measuring infants’ eyes and did a great deal of work on corneal pachometers needed for the contact lens studies he and his colleagues conducted.
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