Dr Dean Corbett

Ophthalmologist
Cataract, Glaucoma and Vision Correction Surgeon

• Refractive Surgery Fellow, Australian Institute of Vision Correction, Melbourne, Australia 1998-99
• Fellow in Oculoplastics – Royal  Eye Infirmary  Plymouth UK 1999
• Fellow in Glaucoma – Moorfields Eye Hospital, London 1999-2001
• Clinical Tutor Specialist Auckland Eye Department 2001-2002
• Senior Clinical Lecturer Auckland University 2007-2017
• Principal Ophthalmologist Counties Manukau Hospital
• Clinical Researcher and Principal investigator for over 20 worldwide clinical trials in the areas of Cataract surgery, advanced IOLs, Glaucoma devices and medical treatment, Phacoemulsification machines, Novel dry eye treatments, and Pterygium

About Dean’s career

Dean has been a consultant and surgeon at Auckland Eye since 2000. His main interest is correcting focusing errors including short or near-sightedness (myopia), far or long-sightedness (hyperopia), astigmatism and presbyopia. This is called vision correction (or refractive) surgery and includes:

• Laser vision correction LASIK, SMILE and PRK
• Implantable Contact Lenses (ICL) for people unsuitable for laser eye surgery
• Lens replacement, or cataract surgery, using highly sophisticated replacement lenses (IOL’s) to deliver visual outcomes tailored to individual patients needs

Dean was the first RANZCO recognised fellowship-trained refractive surgeon in New Zealand. He is also the second kiwi ophthalmologist in history to be invited to join the prestigious International Intra-Ocular Implant Club (IIIC) see (www.iiicclub.com)  He is a  member of the World College of Refractive Surgeons (https://wcrsvs.org/) .He has for over 20 years been a leader in new and novel surgical techniques and devices allowing an in-depth understanding of the best surgical and non-surgical options for people wanting to reduce their dependency on glasses. He thus has the experience to advise patients of the procedure best suited to them, optimising their visual potential and function.

Dean has developed special surgical techniques to maximise patient comfort both during and after cataract surgery, including microincision cataract techniques and “no–needle” painless topical anaesthesia, under low light coaxial surgery.  These surgical approaches promote rapid recovery of visual function, cosmetically superior outcomes and more comfortable recovery from surgery.

Due to these special surgical techniques he is able to provide bilateral (both eyes) same day surgery, allowing for more convenience for those wishing to take this option. These patients leave their surgery being functionally visually capable, on average achieving vision at or close to the legal driving line.

Dean has performed over 30,000 surgical procedures and currently undertakes around 1,000 surgical cases per year at both Auckland (Remuera and Takapuna) and Queenstown surgical sites. He is comfortable with all surgical microscopes and uses a range of advanced surgical devices without having a strong preference for a specific surgical setup, as has used almost all clinical devices to date.

Philanthropically, he was the driving force in establishing  surgery at Auckland Eye in conjunction with the Auckland Voluntary Hospital at accessible costs for people who have extenuating circumstances and/or cannot access public healthcare. He also provides similar pro-bono surgical cases in the South Island where there is a poor level of access to elective eye surgery as compared to the rest of NZ. He was the first ophthalmologist to perform cataract surgery on the mobile surgical services bus donating his time and skills, paving the way for this service to be used in other remote sites around New Zealand.

He has been instrumental in introducing new and innovative products and techniques to both New Zealand patients and surgeons, and those around the world. Notable career highlights in this areas are:

• Clinical Tutor specialist Auckland Eye Department 2000
• First specialist ophthalmologist at Counties Manukau District Health Board
• First surgeon to perform cataract surgery on the Mobile Surgical Services Bus in New Zealand
• Established the Auckland Eye Clinical Research Department – see www.aucklandeye.co.nz/research-clinical-trials/ in 2007
• Established the Auckland Eye Dry Eye service in in 2017
• First New Zealand surgeon to use: Staar Toric Implantable Contact Lens, Synchrony Dual Optic Accommodating IOL, Lentis M Plus Standard and Toric Multifocal,  Acufocus KAMRA Corneal inlay for presbyopia, EnVista Standard
  and Toric IOL, PureSee IOL Glaukos i-stent inject, Glaukos i-Stent infinite, Symfony and Symfony Toric IOL, KDB Goniotomy Blade, Fluid Vision IOL, Galaxy Spiral Optic IOL, ReSTOR Multifocal IOL, Array refractive multifocal IOL
• First surgeon worldwide to implant the AMO Symfony extended range of vision IOL for correction of presbyopia and the Harmony componentry IOL system.
• Principal Investigator for over 15 international Clinical Trials
• 2nd surgeon worldwide to implant PureSEE and Galaxy IOLs

Dean spent 20 years as a consultant ophthalmologist at Counties Manukau  and Auckland District Health Board, and Senior Clinical Lecturer and tutor to New Zealand ophthalmic registrars. In 2009 he received an award for excellence in registrar training and is a sought after lecturer and educator by GP’s, optometrists, ophthalmology trainees and ophthalmic companies.

He has been the Chairperson of Ophthalmology NZ since 2019 whose primary role is to advocate for improved outcomes for NZ ophthalmic patients

Dean has affiliations with several ophthalmology, cataract and refractive societies and colleges in New Zealand, Australia and the USA and has lectured extensively at seminars nationally and internationally.

He has published multiple articles in scientific journals on the topics of Glaucoma and Cataract and IOL surgery.

About Dean

Outside of ophthalmology, Dean’s family is very important to him. He shares with his wife Tina  2 children – James his older son is currently a 4th year post graduate Doctor in Christchurch and Eve his daughter has  a successful career in interior design and home staging  He maintains an active lifestyle and enjoys tennis, golf, boating, diving, skiing and music.