Erik L. Mertens, MD, FWCRS, FEBO, PCEO, FEBOS-CR

Medipolis
Medical Director

Boomsesteenweg 223
Antwerp, B-2610
Belgium

About

Erik L. Mertens, MD, FEBO, PCEO currently serves as the Director and Ophthalmic Surgeon of the Medipolis Eye Center in Belgium. Dr. Mertens graduated form the University of Antwerp in 1991. He then followed his residency in ophthalmology from 1991-1995l. He founded a new multidisciplinary clinic named 'Medipolis Private Antwerp Clinic’ in 2009 (Antwerp, Belgium). Medipolis is the only ophthalmogical center in Belgium which obtained the rigorous KIWA certificate. He graduated from the Kellogg School of Management, Evanston, USA as Physician CEO in October 2015 and admitted as a IIIc member in 2020. Dr. Mertens has utilized his expertise to become a specialist in the fields of refractive surgery as well as small incision cataract surgery. His extensive refractive surgery experience has led him to be the author of over 400 abstracts in national and international congresses and make over 600 scientific presentations both nationally and internationally. Dr. Mertens is chief medical editor for the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today. He also serves as an International Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Refractive Surgery and ‘World Journal of Ophthalmology’. He is a scientific reviewer for the ‘Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery’, the ‘American Journal of Ophthalmology’ and the ‘Journal of Refractive Surgery’. Dr. Mertens is a member of a variety of societies including a Fellow of the European Board of Ophthalmology (FEBO), a member of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ESCRS), the International Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS), and an International Member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and co-founder of AECOS (American-European college of Ophthalmic Surgeons) and president AECOS Europe (2019-2022). He is member of the board of ‘Refractive Surgery Alliance’. He also performs live surgery at national and international congresses. He is a consultant to STAAR Surgical, BVI, Hoya, Zeiss, Medicontur, MST, Excel-Lens and Optovue. He is the lead instructor and moderator of several courses on premium IOL and phakic IOL implantation. He performed the first femtosecond laser cataract surgery in Belgium in September 2012 and in total more than 6500 FLACS cases. He received the ‘ASCRS film festival award’ for the best video in the field of refractive surgery at the 2004 Symposium of the ‘American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery’ and was the ‘2005 Arthur Culler Memorial Lecturer’ at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He recently received the price at OB 2019 for ‘best rapid fire presentation’ during the Belgian Ophthalmology Congress (Early clinical experience with a new Selective Laser Capsulotomy (SLC) device). He implanted the first worldwide commercially available Visian EVO VIVA ICL in October 2020. He was or is the Principal Investigator in 8 GCP Clinical Trials (one for Acufocus (IC-8 lens in 2015), one for Ophtec in 2016 and for Medicem in 2016-2017, STAAR Surgical 2018-2019, Allotex 2018-2020, Medicontur 2022, HOYA 2022) and a Sub-investigator in five trials. Recent Publications Ang M, Gatinel D, Reinstein D, Mertens E, et al. J. Refractive surgery beyond 2020. Eye (2020) Packer M, Alfonso J, Aramberri J, Elies D, Fernandez J, Mertens E. Performance and safety of the extended depth of focus implantable collamer lens (EDOF ICL) in phakic subjects with presbyopia. Clin Ophthalmol. 2020 Sep 18;14:2717-2730 Holzer M, Nuijts R, Jonker S, Mertens E, Bozkurt A, Cazal J, Playa A, Mesa R, Thomas B. Bilateral Implantation of a New Refractive Multi-Segmented Multifocal Intraocular Lens in Cataract or Refractive Lens Exchange Patients Clin Ophthalmol. 2021;15:2117-2126 Rocamora, Leandro MSc; Orlando, José I. PhD; Lwowski, Christoph MD; Kohnen, Thomas MD PhD; Mertens, Erik MD; Van Keer, Karel MD PhD, Postoperative vault prediction for phakic implantable collamer lens surgery: the LASSO formulae Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery: October 14, 2022