Stephen Gordon was born in Hungary and came to UK in 1949 having previously met Josef Dallos about 1934 when he was still a schoolboy. Gordon was not his real name but was adopted either for ease of pronunciation or for protection from wartime reprisals. Gordon had been an interpreter at the Nuremburg War Trials. He joined Dallos, who some think was related, at the contact lens centre in Cavendish Square and there learnt contact lens fitting.
Soon Gordon moved to Manchester to run the contact lens centre for Hamblins becoming Contact lens Director between 1964-67. Gordon invented the Apex perilimbal lens in about 1962. This had a diameter of 12.50-13.00 mm and was designed especially for unilateral aphakia. The Apex lens was fitted 0.50-1.50mm larger than the cornea on the basis that on blinking tears would be pumped under the lens. It was very easy to handle and immediately comfortable because of the large diameter.
Gordon also produced a design called the Conex lens for conical cornea in 1968. This was an Apex type lens, made in PMMA, with a diameter of 13mm for both keratoconus and corneal grafts. He also made stenopaic sclerals. Having left Hamblin’s in 1967, he opened his own practice on the 4th Floor of 2 St John Street, Manchester. He died in November 2004 aged 82.
The ‘Apex’ Lens for Uniocular Aphakia (with Fraser, J.P.) The Ophthalmic Optician 25 November 1967