Through My Eyes: The Charlie Kelman Story

Public television brings one of ophthalmology’s most celebrated surgeons into American households. Charles D. Kelman, M.D.’s significant contributions to cataract surgery, most notably, phacoemulsification, are well-known to the ophthalmic community.
However, more recent generations of ophthalmologists who daily employ the outcome of his ingenious inventions may be unaware of the trials and tribulations he faced before achieving renown.
On Wednesday, January 20, a documentary produced by New York metro area public television station WLIW21, revealed the struggles Dr. Kelman went through in order to get his phacoemulsification recognized as a legitimate technique in cataract surgery. Gaining respect from the ophthalmology community also did not come easily.
Executive producer Roy A. Hammond of the documentary “Through My Eyes: The Charlie Kelman Story” said in a press release that the program “finally pays homage to the man whose inventions have touched millions of lives worldwide and whose name should be a household name.”
In four chapters, the documentary starts out by telling the story of a boy who had dreams of becoming a musician and entertainer but whose father had other ideas for him. Footage of Kelman in a nightclub act shows him telling the audience that his parents told him he could be absolutely anything he wanted, as long as he became a doctor first.
The program continues to unravel Dr. Kelman’s life story by interspersing interviews with those who knew him well with footage of him in onstage appearances with interviews. Dr. Kelman’s wife, daughter, friends, foes and colleagues help explain the man behind one of cataract surgery’s greatest innovations. The documentary features well-known faces in ophthalmology including Robert M. Sinskey, M.D., The Sinskey Eye Institute, Santa Monica, Calif., Manus C. Kraff, M.D., Kraff Eye Institute, Chicago, IL., and Richard Packard, M.D., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.Ophth., consultant surgeon, Prince Charles Eye Unit, Maidenhead, United Kingdom.
While he pursued medicine to fulfill his father’s wishes, Dr. Kelman also continued to fervently chase his own dream of being a musician. The two pursuits were constantly in a tug-of-war throughout his life. When his father was diagnosed with cancer, Dr. Kelman accelerated his studies to graduate in two years from college and entered into medical school in Geneva. Dr. Kelman’s father unfortunately passed away before he obtained his M.D. degree. Dr. Kelman interned at Kings County Hospital and then charmed his way into an extremely competitive residency in ophthalmology at Wills Eye Institute. He had learned it was a specialty that would allow him to spend more time with his true passion, music.
At age 30, the young doctor seemed to have made it in show business with “Telephone Numbers,” which earned 4 stars on Billboard and was the pick of the week at radio stations across the country. Unfortunately, his success was short lived with the coming of Chubby Checker to the music industry and Dr. Kelman was dropped by his agent. It was at this point that Dr. Kelman turned his attention toward cataract surgery and began thinking of a way to perform small incision surgery. The program shows what led to his earliest innovation and how the phaco machine was inspired by a visit to the dentist. Dr. Kelman gave week-long training sessions for his groundbreaking cataract procedure at the end of which, he would require attendance to a nightclub act, which he starred in. While some called him a genius, others discredited him and his ideas. With the doors of the ophthalmology establishment tightly shut to him, the unorthodox surgeon used a public relations campaign to promote his work and landed himself on The Tonight Show.
Dr. Kelman also pioneered the forming of business partnerships with pharmaceutical manufacturers by collaborating with makers of his phacoemulsification device. The move was controversial and scandalous for the time. After three decades of research and private practice, Dr. Kelman finally won his struggle for respect and recognition. He was bestowed some of the highest honors in science and technological innovation including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly known as the National Medal of Technology), which is the highest honor for technological achievement awarded by the President of the United States on America’s leading innovators. Six months before he died of cancer, Dr. Kelman received The American Academy of Ophthalmology’s prestigious Laureate Award. He was also posthumously honored with the Lasker Award, the nation’s highest award for medical science.

As the program draws to a close, Dr. Kelman advises his stage act audience during a performance of “I’ve Gotta Be Me,” to “Give into that secret dream inside you.”
www.wliw.org