Dr. Jose Ignacio Barraquer is part of a long line of ophthalmologists. His Grandfather, Father, Son and Daughter are all famous doctors in their own right. Dr. Jose Ignacio Barraquer left Europe after completing medical school and founded The Instituto Barraquer de America in Bogot', Columbia. As an excellent teacher, physician and surgeon, Dr. Barraquer attracted opthalmologists and postgraduate students from all of South America. He pushed for better surgical instruments and even helped create the first surgical microscope designed especially for ocular microsurgery.
The way Dr. Jose Ignacio Barraquer most influence modern eye surgery was with his development of keratomileusis, the sculpting of the cornea to correct eye problems. Without today's modern computers, Dr. Barraquer began using scale drawings of 1000:1 to determine the needed shape of the cornea. His methods became the foundation for today's photo keratomileusis or lasik, laser-assisted insitu keratomileusis. Lasik has given millions of people, who previously had to where glasses and or contacts, perfect vision.
