the eye. Cornea Endothelium Microscopy (Specular Microscopy) The specular microscope was developed with Bill Bourne, which showed that the human corneal endothelium divided little or not at all. Thus, this tissue must be protected since it could not effectively repair itself like other human tissue. This also led to the discovery that the corneal endothelium was being damaged during cataract surgery as the cataract was removed and the artificial lens was placed into the eye. Cornea Transplant Tissue storage Prior to the development of corneal storage media for eye banks, corneal transplant surgery generally required corneal transplant surgery to be conducted with hours of the donor’s death. This was not always possible; thus, the need for a corneal storage media was born out of need because of the dearth of usable cornea transplant tissue. Kaufman proposed removing the corneas from the enucleated eyes and immersing the corneas in a type of tissue culture solution, which could maintain the health of the stored corneas for days. Kaufman immersed the corneal tissue in a tissue culture solution and later Dextran to dehydrate the tissue at the suggestion of colleague, Bernie McCarey, who validated the idea in 1974. There was resistance to this new procedure but with the support of Edward Maumenee, head of ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, the new protocol was accepted by Eye Banks International. MK media was not patented so that it could be used by eye banks throughout the world, free of charge. As eye banks required more time for tissue testing and distribution across the country, Kaufman developed K-Sol corneal storage media in 1986. K-sol contained chondroitin sulfate, which was a free radical scavenger to extend the usable life of the tissue in eye bank storage for up to 14 days. (k-sol reference) K-sol was used for many years but was removed due to a manufacturing contamination by Taylor Pharmacueticals. Kaufman and Richard Lindstrom, modified the k-sol formulation to make Optisol corneal eye bank storage media in 1992. Optisol remains the most commonly used eye bank preserving medium, according to Kaufman. Laser Vision Correction Ultimately, the first human to undergo laser vision correction with the excimer laser was a patient with a uveal melanoma in an eye slated for enucleation who allowed Marguerite McDonald to perform an excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). Following enucleation, they performed histologic studies. This was followed by the same work in a