Eric Arnott: ERIC ARNOTT was a noted eye surgeon who challenged accepted medical opinion. As one of the first ophthalmic surgeons to recognise the work of Charles Kelman, the US surgeon who invented phacoemulsification (phaco), a new technique using small incisions and an ultrasound probe to carry out cataract surgery, Arnott is credited with bringing the procedure to Europe.
Despite some stiff opposition from the ophthalmological establishment of the 1970s, he persevered. Today almost all cataract surgery is performed using a variation of the technique he helped to pioneer. Arnott was born on June 12th, 1929, in Sunningdale, Berkshire, the second son of Sir Robert Arnott Bt. Educated at Harrow, he studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, graduating in 1954.
Following house officer jobs at the Adelaide hospital, he began his ophthalmology training at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear hospital in Dublin before moving to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. There he trained with Sir Harold Ridley, the inventor of the intraocular lens.
First appointed a consultant to the Royal Eye Hospital, he moved to Charing Cross Hospital in 1965. Arnott organised the first live ophthalmic micro-surgical symposium at the hospital in 1974; 10 of the world’s top eye surgeons performed live surgery which was relayed to more than 300 international delegates by the BBC.
In 1971, Arnott became the first physician outside the US to take the phaco course offered by Kelman in New York. He then purchased a phaco machine and brought it to London. Later that year he performed the first phaco procedure outside of the US at Charing Cross Hospital, and for several years he was in the unusual position of being the only surgeon to perform the minimally invasive procedure in Europe.
Responsible for introducing many other surgical techniques throughout his career, in 1967, he and Paddy Condon, now a consultant ophthalmic surgeon in Waterford, used the first silicone implant for retinal detachment surgery.
Having initially aimed to pursue a consultant practice in Ireland, Arnott’s career plan was diverted when he was introduced to Veronica Langué by Lady Dunsany. He fell in love with the young ballerina – she was of White Russian emigré stock – and they moved to London where, in 1960, they were married.
As well as his work at Charing Cross, Arnott established the Arnott Eye Centre, a unique multidisciplinary ophthalmic practice, in Harley Street. He attracted patients from around the world, including royalty, actors, politicians and religious leaders. In 1998, a life-long commitment to the development of ophthalmology in India was reflected in his appointment as honorary visiting professor at Indore University.
A keen swimmer, Arnott swam for a mile every morning. During a visit to San Francisco, he enquired of his host was there a swimming pool in the area where he might swim the following day. Told to be ready at 4.30am, he was driven to a quay where a boat brought him to Alcatraz, from where he was told to swim ashore without touching the boat. He succeeded, emerging frozen from the water; he repeated the Alcatraz swim on subsequent visits. Arnott spent part of his youth at the family estate in Lucan, Co Dublin.
His great-grandfather was an MP and lord mayor of Cork. A philanthropic entrepreneur, Sir John Arnott established the eponymous department store with branches in Dublin, Cork and in Britain. Eric Arnott's father was an agricultural correspondent and director of The Irish Times.
Predeceased by Veronica, Eric Arnott leaves two sons, Stephen and Robert and a daughter, Tania.
Eric John Arnott: born June 12th, 1929; died December 1st, 2011.