Father Waclaw Szuniewicz, MD – Pioneer of refractive surgery

Abstract

Father Wacław Szuniewicz (1891–1963) was a missionary, researcher and ophthalmic surgeon and can be considered as one of the pioneers of refractive surgery. In 1931 he began a 19 bed missionary hospital in Xingtai, Hebei Province, China. He personally was able to examine about 145 000 patients and conduct up to 800 cataract extractions per year. When the mission was closed, he moved to New Haven, United States and performed research at the Yale University. In 1952 he moved Brazil, where he continued his pastoral and medical work until his death. Szuniewicz conducted experiments on changing the corneal curvature with anterior, posterior and full‐thickness incisions, however his works were not published during his life.