Eric Arnott, FRCS: 12/6/1929 – 1/12/2011
Eric John Arnott was a combination of establishment doyen and visionary innovator, prepared to challenge accepted medical opinion. He was born on June 12th 1929 in Sunningdale, Berkshire, the second son of Sir Robert Arnott Bt and educated at Harrow. He studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin and trained at Moorfields and UCH. After completing his training, he was appointed as consultant first to the Royal Eye Hospital and then in 1965 to Charing Cross Hospital, then still in the Strand.
He was one of the major contributors to the advancement of eye surgery over the second half of the twentieth century. In 1971 he was the first surgeon in Europe to perform Phacoemulsification (phaco), a technique invented by Dr Charles Kelman to remove the cataract through a small incision. This meant that patients no longer had to lie in bed for two weeks after their surgery with all movement restricted. Arnott's early pioneering work encountered severe criticism, but he progressed undeterred and today almost all cataract surgery is performed using the technique he introduced.
Whist at Moorfields he worked with Sir Harold Ridley, the inventor of the intraocular lens; not only did Ridley's still controversial work on lenses inspire him, but it led to a lifelong friendship. Following Ridley's lead, in 1974 he and John Pearce were the first to reintroduce the concept of posterior chamber lens implantation after it had been abandoned in the 1950's following disastrous results. He invented many styles of intraocular lens and in 1981 he and Richard Packard were the first to describe the use of a soft lens material which could be folded to go through a small incision.
As well as being a gifted surgeon, he was a passionate teacher and in 1974 he and his wife, Veronica organized the worlds First Live Ophthalmic Micro-Surgical Symposium at Charing Cross. He founded Arnott Eye Associates in 1985 and received an honorary professorship by the University of Indore in 1998. His memoirs “A New Beginning in Sight” were published by RSM Press in 2007.
He is survived by two sons, Stephen and Robert and one daughter, Tania.
Death Notices
Professor Eric John Arnott – Headley, Hampshire
Dr Stephen Theodore Butterworth – Tonbridge, Kent
Dr Shelagh Lynne Calvert – Wimborne, Dorset
Dr Leonard M Franks – London
Dr Joyce Mary Havelock – Cheam, Surrey
Dr Magdy Fawzy Ahmed Hend – London
Dr Raymond Henry Jones – Newport, South Wales
Dr Anil Kagalwala – Stanmore, Middlesex
Dr Brian Carvell Mallaband – Langport, Somerset
Dr Paul Sebastian Richardson – Banbury, Oxfordshire
Mr Warren Howard Redding – Thurlby Bourne, Lincolnshire
Mr Sandeep Shetty – Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
Dr Malcolm Kinsey Towers – Northwood, Middlesex
Professor Doreen Mary Elizabeth Vermeulen-Cranch – Elburg, Netherlands
Mr Clive Bernard Woodham – London
Dr Hywel Geoffrey Lloyd Lloyd-Thomas – London