“They shed light on the cutting-edge topics and trends that are driving and shaping ophthalmology today,” describes the Ophthalmologist Power List 2024. The list prepared by the English magazine The Ophthalmologist the doctor integrates her once again Roberto Zaldivarwho has been chosen again among the 100 most influential ophthalmologists in the world, a selection that is configured by voting among peers.
Founder of the Zaldivar Institute in Mendoza, Roberto Zaldivar is an Argentine ophthalmologist and refractive surgeon. Refractive surgery allows you to correct refraction problems, such as myopia, astigmatism, hyperopia, presbyopia and cataracts.
Creator of different techniques and designs that are used today in everyday practice, Zaldivar has been recognized for his contributions to surgical treatment in the use of lasers to correct visual disabilities. One of these contributions was the development of an intraocular lens for the treatment of myopia. The first intervention in which he implanted the world’s first implantable colamer lens was done in 1993 in his clinic in Mendoza. And it became a world leader in the implantation of intraocular contact lenses.
“The contact intraocular lens that is implanted inside the eye without having to touch or remove the lens marked a before and after in world ophthalmology due to its ability to correct large optical effects, since it is capable of correcting up to 20 diopters of myopia. and six diopters of astigmatism,” they explained from the Zaldivar Institute.
“In recent years, there has been a boom in the adoption of this technique due to the great growth in cases of myopia around the world,” with about two million users. “Currently, it is the most advanced technique to treat high myopia,” they added.
He has also been responsible for the design of dozens of instruments used in eye surgery. Zaldivar is in charge, with his son Roger Zaldivar, of the institute that his father founded in Mendoza six decades ago. It is not the first time that he has been included in the list of the English magazine The Ophthalmologist. His name already appeared as one of the most influential ophthalmologists in the world in 2018 and 2020.
Multiple recognitions
He has received multiple recognitions for his career. He was the first non-American professional to whom American Cataract Society and Refractive Surgery (Ascrs, by its name in English) awarded him in 2022 the Roger Steinert Prizewith which they highlight those who “have made significant contributions to refractive surgery.”
“This award represents great recognition of Argentine and Latin American ophthalmology. Being valued for contributing with contributions that change the lives and vision of people around the world is a great satisfaction,” said the specialist at that time.
In 2007, the technique called “bioptics” and was developed in 1996 by Zaldivar was included in the select list of the 17 scientific advances that marked a milestone in the history of world ophthalmology. Dr. Zaldivar received the distinction as Innovative Surgeon during the XX German Congress of Ophthalmic Surgeons chosen by a renowned international jury from the International Society of Refractive Surgery, the German Society of Ophthalmology and the American Association of Ophthalmology.
“Writing a term in medicine that lasts in books is very unusual and if it happens, it happens only once in a lifetime,” he told THE NATION at that moment. “Advances in ophthalmology are techniques capable of lasting over time and of great impact, which means that they will be used for at least 20 to 40 years.”
Bioptics is the most used technique in the world in recent years for the correction of hyperopia and high myopia in people under 40 years of age, it combines the placement of intraocular implants (phakic lenses) that are placed with the lens in place, plus the correction provided by the use of laser (Lasik). Both procedures are performed 30 days apart.