Universitäts-Augenklinik Düsseldorf

The Universitäts-Augenklinik Düsseldorf is the department of Ophthalmology of the University Hospital of Düsseldorf in Germany. It is an internationally renown centre for corneal transplantation, ocular surface disease and management of associated disorders ranging from Glaucoma to oculoplastic surgery. Further subspecialist expertise is established for the diagnosis and surgical and medical treatment of vitreoretinal and macular disorders as well as strabismus.HistoryAlbert Mooren was the first well known ophthalmologist in Düsseldorf, whose name today is reflected in the postal address of the University Hospital. He trained with the famous founder of the German Ophthalmological Society, Albrecht von Graefe (1828–1870), before becoming chairman of the newly established Eye Hospital of Düsseldorf in 1862. The hospital was promoted to medical school in 1919. Ernst Custodis, Professor and chairman of the department from 1946 to 1967, introduced scleral buckling to ophthalmology in 1949 as a revolutionary new concept to treat retinal detachment. In 1973 the medical school was transferred into and renamed the University Hospital Düsseldorf. Rainer Sundmacher, Professor and chairman from 1986 to 2006 founded in 1995 the Lions Eye Bank of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since then diagnosis and management of corneal disease has been the focus of the department. Since 2011, the Universitäts-Augenklinik Düsseldorf is managed by Gerd Geerling.