Medical devices, ophthalmology

Patricia Bath: inventions and patents

Patricia Bath was an ophthalmologist who conceived the Laserphaco, a device and technique for removing cataracts, in 1981. The National Inventors Hall of Fame describes her as the "first Black woman physician to receive a medical patent" and says her first US patent was issued in 1988. In 1976 she proposed the discipline of community ophthalmology and co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022.^1,2

Patents

Inventions

• Laserphaco, 1981. A device and technique for cataract removal that makes the incision, breaks up the lens and removes the fragments by suction. The Hall of Fame says it was in use in Europe and Asia by 2000.¹
• Laser cataract apparatus (US 4,744,360). The patent describes a fine flexible line that carries laser radiation through an optical fibre to ablate cataract tissue, with irrigation and aspiration sleeves that flush in fluid and remove the debris.²

Recognition

• 2022 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame¹

Sources

1. National Inventors Hall of Fame, Patricia Bath (accessed 2026-10-28)
2. Google Patents, US4744360A Apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses (accessed 2026-10-28)