The Father of Phacoemulsification in India

Born in 1941 into a Parsi family in Maharashtra, Keiki R. Mehta graduated MBBS from Christian Medical College and earned his MS in Ophthalmology from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh. He further trained at Moorfields Eye Hospital and the Institute of Ophthalmology in London under pioneers such as Harold Ridley, obtaining diplomas from London and Ireland before advanced studies in the United States.

Returning to India, he became the first surgeon in the country to perform radial keratotomy and pioneered the introduction of phacoemulsification—the modern technique of small-incision, sutureless cataract surgery. He is credited with developing the world’s first soft intraocular lens implant and the Keiki Mehta BP Valve Glaucoma Shunt for complex glaucoma cases. As Chief Surgical and Medical Director of the Mehta International Eye Institute in Mumbai, which he founded, he has performed tens of thousands of cataract, LASIK and refractive procedures while training generations of ophthalmologists across India and abroad.

He has served as President of the All India Ophthalmological Society and the Intraocular Implant and Refractive Society, published extensively, and received numerous international honours including the Grand Honors Award of the National Eye Research Foundation (Chicago), the Triple Ribbon Award of the American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and the Lim International Award. In 2008 the Government of India conferred the Padma Shri upon him for his contributions to medicine.

Today, at the institute that bears his name and in operating theatres around the world where his techniques are practised, Prof. Keiki R. Mehta continues to restore clear vision. In the countless eyes freed from cataract and the many surgeons who learned from him, his lifelong mission endures—bringing the gift of sight with precision, innovation and quiet dedication.