who invented lasik
The core credit for “inventing LASIK” generally goes to Dr. Gholam A. Peyman , an Iranian‑American ophthalmologist who received the first U.S. patent for the LASIK procedure in 1989.
Quick Scoop
- The person most often named as the inventor of LASIK is Dr. Gholam A. Peyman.
- He patented the concept of cutting a corneal flap and reshaping the cornea with a laser, which is the essence of LASIK.
- LASIK, though, grew from decades of work by several pioneers, not just one “lone genius.”
A bit of story
Back in the mid‑1900s, Spanish surgeon José Barraquer began reshaping corneas with a mechanical technique called keratomileusis, laying the conceptual groundwork for LASIK.
In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers like Rangaswamy Srinivasan and Stephen Trokel showed that excimer lasers could precisely remove corneal tissue, making laser vision correction possible.
Building on these ideas, Peyman patented a method that combined a corneal flap with laser reshaping, which is what we now recognize as LASIK.
Soon after, surgeons such as Ioannis Pallikaris and Lucio Buratto performed the first human LASIK procedures and refined the technique into the modern surgery used worldwide today.
Multiple pioneers, one big question
When people ask “who invented LASIK,” they may get slightly different answers because:
- Peyman is credited legally and historically via the first LASIK patent in 1989.
- Pallikaris, Buratto, and others are credited with performing and popularizing the first clinical LASIK surgeries in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
- Earlier scientists like Barraquer and Srinivasan are honored as the foundational innovators whose work made LASIK possible.
Put simply:
- Short answer : Dr. Gholam A. Peyman is widely recognized as the inventor of LASIK.
- Full picture : LASIK is the result of step‑by‑step innovations from several eye surgeons and laser researchers over many decades.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.