Dr. Michael Duplessie

Fellowship trained Corneal Surgeon and Lasik pioneer, Dr. Michael Duplessie, is the eye surgeon to take care of your corneal, lasik, refractive or cataract problems .

University of Notre Dame
Royal College of Surgeons, in Ireland
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
National Eye Institute, National Institute Of Health
George Washington University Hospital
Duke University Eye Center
Summa Healthcare
University of South Florida Eye Institute

Recommended again and again by some of the top physicians in the world; he includes Presidents of countries, and members of multiple Royal families among his patients.

Dr. Duplessie decided to become a physician while working with the Japanese Red Cross at Sa Kaeo refugee camp, the first organized refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border. Persevering after the Japanese Red Cross fled over security issues, he worked in a 1200 bed thatched roof hospital with patients lying on mats on dirt floors. Always integrating charity into his medical practice, he has never forgotten those who are less fortunate.

Challenging convention: Branding LASIK.

Dr. Duplessie organized the first US LASIK course in 1996, featuring the world’s top 25 corneal refractive surgeons from 11 countries in a series of 63 lectures and talks over two days.

Showing a boldness that can be career defining or career ruining, Dr. Duplessie, still in training, realized that the laser surgery classification system honoring a personal surgical hero, Prof. Jose Ignacio Barraquer [‘the father of corneal refractive surgery’], and agreed to by all of the surgeons speaking at the conference, was unworkable and needed to be simplified.

Given the challenge of marketing and promoting the surgically descriptive but tongue twistingly unpronounceable Barraquer classification system, Dr. Duplessie chose the ‘ask forgiveness later’ approach and simplified it to LASIK and PRK.

In the “First United States LASIK Course”, the name LASIK was still controversial, and none of speakers used it in the titles any of the 63 lectures and talks. After the course, there was only LASIK and PRK.

And that is how ‘the Father of Corneal Refractive Surgery ‘, Dr. Barraquer came to write the introductory chapter in Dr. Duplessie’s book ‘Advances in Refractive Surgery and Corneal Surgery’ published just months after the course.

Over 40,000,000 LASIK surgeries have been performed.

Lasik Pioneer: Organizer of the first and largest United States Lasik Course and Wet Lab

Lasik: First textbook chapter on myopic lasik surgery

Corneal Pioneer : Editor of Advances in Refractive and Corneal Surgery

Dr. Michael Duplessie has performed thousands of cataract operations and over 30,000 LASIK procedures and has undergone laser eye surgery himself. He is qualified to provide the highest level of medical and surgical eye care.

Lasik Pioneer: First textbook chapter on hyperopic lasik surgery

One of the first textbook chapters on Presbyopic Laser Correction.

Pioneer Lamellar Corneal Transplant Surgery:

Dr Michael Duplessie performed one of first lamellar surgeries in the United States. He was selected to write the first textbook chapter published on modern lamellar surgery. He is an expert in the advanced techniques such as ALK, ALTK, DLEK, DSAEK, Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK).

Specialist in Ocular Burns:

Dr Michael Duplessie has had extensive training in the treatment of ocular burns. An expert in ocular burns, his work was featured on Voice of America for his treatment of Iranian patients blinded by acid.

Voice of America News Segment on Dr. Michael Duplessie

Educator:

Dr Michael Duplessie created the largest private residency/fellowship program in the United States. Fifteen doctors a year from Canada, seeking the best training possible, traveled to the USA to train in Cornea and External Disease.

Dr Michael Duplessie has completed three Fellowships. He has considerable experience in diseases of the cornea and external eye. He is skilled in traditional corneal surgery including penetrating keratoplasty, pterygium surgery, cataract surgery, and the wide range of surgeries for ocular surface disease, including the management of tumors, stem cell deficiencies, and ocular surface reconstruction.