Foundation and History of ESOPRS

Prior to the 1960s there was very little subspecialty training in ophthalmology. A few surgeons had developed a special interest in a particular subject, such as Ridley developing intraocular lenses after cataract surgery at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, Ryecroft doing corneal grafts at East Grinstead, south of London, and Stallard treating eyelid tumours at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. There were other surgeons, such as Mustardé (Fig. 1), who started life as a consultant ophthalmologist in Nottingham and became so interested in plastic surgery that he switched and became a plastic surgeon with a keen interest in surgery in the orbital region, which he pursued at Bearsden, just outside Glasgow.