Pioneering Ophthalmologist William J. Lahners Passes Away

William J. Lahners, MD, FACS, Medical Director, Center for Sight, in Sarasota, Florida, passed away on Friday at the age of 53.

A specialist in LASIK, cataract, and glaucoma surgery, Dr. Lahners was an early adopter of femtosecond lasers. According to his biography on the US Eye website,¹ Dr. Lahners was the first surgeon on the west coast of Florida to use the femtosecond laser technology in All-Laser LASIK, and the fifth surgeon in the country to perform laser-assisted corneal transplant surgery.

Dr. Lahners was invited to be the editor of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s online textbook chapter on femtosecond laser technology. He was a member of editorial board of Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today, which is owned by Bryn Mawr Communications, the parent company of Eyewire+.

According to his biography, Dr. Lahners earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, and his medical degree with honors from Louisiana State University. He continued his education with a combined internship in Medicine and Surgery at the Mayo Clinic, a residency in ophthalmology at Emory University, and a fellowship at the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis.

He has been a principal investigator in several FDA trials involving cataract surgery, LASIK, pharmaceuticals, corneal cross linking and corneal transplants. In 2003, he was invited to be one of the 11 investigators in the U.S. for CustomCornea.

Reference

1. US Eye. William J. Lahners, M.D., F.A.C.S. https://www.useye.com/staff/william-j-lahners-m-d-f-a-c-s/. Accessed December 15, 2022.