Alan Edward Andrew Ridgway

Alan Edward Andrew Ridgway attended Downside School, from where he won a place to study medicine at Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1958. He qualified in 1964 after undertaking his clinical studies at the London Hospital in Whitechapel. After senior house officer and registrar posts in ophthalmology at Oxford Eye Hospital and Cardiff Royal Infirmary, he was appointed senior registrar to Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital in 1970. It was there that he began to develop his interests in the surgical management of conditions mainly affecting the anterior segment of the eye, including cataract, corneal disease, and glaucoma.

He started his consultant career at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital in April 1974. This included regular outreach clinics in Trafford General Hospital, Stretford Memorial Hospital, and Altrincham General Hospital.

Alan brought with him huge reserves of energy, drive, and determination and set about making his mark. At that time (1974) Manchester Royal Eye Hospital had a proud history and a huge patient base, but had perhaps been underperforming on the national stage for some years.

Alan was an immensely skilled surgeon and a strong proponent of what was at the time innovative capsule preserving (extracapsular) cataract and intraocular lens implant surgery. Extracapsular surgery evolved in the 1990s via the use of ultrasonic phacoemulsification. Late …