Person
Ezekiel, Donald (Don) (1936 - )
- Born
- 12 September 1936
Singapore - Occupation
- Optometrist
Summary
Donald Ezekiel is an optometrist and innovator in the design and manufacture of contact lenses. After qualifying he worked in family practice and had several years clinical experience in the United Kingdom, where he gained his Diploma in Contact Lens Practice. Returning to Perth in 1970 he established his own practice and purchased the necessary equipment to make contact lenses. His company, Gelflex Laboratories, manufactured soft and hard lenses for over 40 years before being sold. Ezekiel's innovations include the use of rigid gas permeable materials for scleral lenses which allowed greater corneal oxygenation: the lenses therefore could be worn for longer. With Graham Barrett he developed what was reputedly the world's first foldable intraocular lens made from a hydrogel material, the key advantage of which was that a smaller limbal incision was needed to insert the lens into the eye. He has also worked on the development of a soft translating bifocal contact lens.
Skip to
Details
Chronology
- 1957
- Education - Diploma in Optometry, Optometry Board of Western Australia
- 1997
- Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in recognition of service to the optometrical profession and to the development of the scleral contact lens
- 2005
- Award - Herschel Medal, International Society of Contact Lens Specialists
- 2012
- Award - Life membership, International Society of Contact Lens Specialists
- 2012
- Life event - Retired from lens manufacturing
Published resources
Journal Articles
- Efron, Nathan, 'Donald Ezekiel AM: passionate and innovative contact lens practitioner and manufacturer', Clinical and Experimental Optometry, 97 (6) (2014 cintyre4), 570-2. Details
Resources
- 'Ezekiel, Donald (19360912-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1772717. Details
Helen Cohn
Last modified: 5 December 2016