Keith Barton

Keith Barton is a Consultant Ophthalmologist and Glaucoma Specialist at Moorfields Eye Hospital , Professor of Ophthalmology at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Ophthalmology Futures Forums and the International Glaucoma Surgery Registry.

His areas of interest are the surgical management of glaucoma, especially aqueous shunt devices, micro-invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) and secondary glaucoma’s, specifically the management of glaucoma in uveitis. Keith has been at the forefront of surgical innovation in glaucoma, specifically glaucoma surgical devices and is a co-inventor of the Paul Glaucoma Implant (United States Patent No. 9,808,374 B2. Nov 7th, 2017).

Prof. Barton was Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Ophthalmology from 2014-2021, has been invited to lecture on every continent, has received a number of awards including the Charamis Medal at the European Ophthalmological Society in Barcelona 2017 for achievement in the field of Ophthalmic surgery and has twice been voted by The Ophthalmologist magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in Ophthalmology (in 2018 he was voted no. 10 in the world). He is actively involved in surgical teaching, patient education and charitable projects. He has produced patient information on aqueous shunt implantation and trabeculectomy that are available online in several languages and which have been awarded the NHS Information Standard in the UK. He also has established an online resource migs.org to help patients and clinicians navigate the proliferation of new glaucoma surgical devices as well as an internet-based International Registry of Glaucoma Surgery, in order to collect outcome information on all types of glaucoma surgery from around the world.

Keith also organises and runs glaucoma educational symposia which have attracted significant acclaim such as the Moorfields International Glaucoma Symposium, and has co-founded and organised Ophthalmology Futures Forums, industry investor networking events in Ophthalmology, both in Europe and Asia.

Prof. Barton has been involved in charitable work and population-based research in Ghana, West Africa as an Investigator in the Tema Eye Survey and the follow-up Tema Eye Survey II. He regularly takes part in charitable sporting events, having cycled from London to Paris in 24 hours in 3 successive years from 2017-2019, raising nearly £75,000 for the International Glaucoma Association, a charity for patients with glaucoma.

Current Clinical Practice

Despite wide-ranging interests in clinical education and commercial innovation, Keith Barton is primarily a clinical ophthalmologist with a practice that is focused on the surgical management of glaucoma, including both traditional techniques and new minimally invasive surgical techniques.

A large additional proportion of his practice is also dedicated to the management of glaucoma secondary to uveitis.

Aqueous Shunt Implantation Although Prof. Barton performs a significant number of trabeculectomies, he has pioneered the use of the Baerveldt Glaucoma Implant in the UK, promoted the use of aqueous shunts (glaucoma drainage devices) in Europe where they have been much less popular than in North America and co-designed the Paul Glaucoma Implant, a new shunt, developed in Singapore, consisting of a smaller lumen tube than conventional shunts, that is placed inside the eye (United States Patent No. 9,808,374 B2).

Glaucoma Secondary to Uveitis

In 1996, Mr Barton set up a clinic dedicated solely to the management of glaucoma secondary to uveitis. This clinic attracts referrals from all over the United Kingdom, with a high proportion requiring glaucoma surgery. This has proven to be a unique resource for the study of surgical outcomes in patients with uveitic glaucoma.

New Glaucoma Surgical Devices and Techniques Keith’s practice has trialled most of the new glaucoma surgical devices including iStent, Hydrus, Cypass, MicroShunt, Xen, Trabectome, CLASS laser, High Frequency Focused Ultrasound (HiFu), Micropulse Diode laser and endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation. He has also trialled newer forms of traditional Aqueous Shunts, such as the Aurolab AADI and is a co-inventor of the Paul Glaucoma Implant.

He has been actively involved in the pre-commercial development of a number of these. To support this clinical activity with evidence, he has been involved in the management and recruitment to a number of multi-centre trials investigating their use.

Cataract Surgery

Cataract surgery is an integral part of the management of patients with glaucoma who require surgery. Patients with glaucoma, especially those with secondary glaucomas requiring glaucoma surgery, have a high rate of later cataract development. Given that cataract surgery has the potential to compromise the outcome of glaucoma surgery, the co-management of surgical glaucoma and cataract is an important part of his surgical glaucoma practice.

Mr Barton’s clinical practice offers phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation, including Toric intraocular lenses for those with significant astigmatism. His private practice additionally offers femtosecond-laser assisted phacoemulsification for suitable patients.