Arnell Patz | Saved babies' eyesight, 89

Arnall Patz, 89, an ophthalmologist whose research upset medical convention but ended up saving countless babies from blindness, died March 10 of heart disease at his home in Pikesville, Md.

Dr. Patz, a former director of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University, also did pioneering research using lasers that has been credited with preserving the sight of adults with conditions that cause blindness, such as macular degeneration.

He began his path-breaking work in the 1950s, when he discovered that the high doses of oxygen widely administered to help premature infants breathe could cause a form of blindness. His research led to widespread restrictions on high-dose oxygen therapy, resulting in an immediate 60 percent reduction in the number of blind children in the United States.

In the late 1960s, he helped develop one of the first argon lasers. They are now a standard treatment for macular degeneration and for certain eye disorders among people with diabetes and other ailments.

- N.Y. Times News Service