Blake Kennedy Williamson, MD, MPH, MS is a third generation eye doctor who continues the legacy of his family, which has been taking care of the great people of Louisiana’s vision for nearly 70 years at Williamson Eye. World class education was an early emphasis in his career as he would earn Master’s degrees from both Columbia University and Johns Hopkins where he participated in cutting edge research and completed a public health ophthalmology capstone. With a goal of taking care of the people of his home state, Dr. Williamson returned to Louisiana to complete his medical school and ophthalmology residency.
While training at Tulane, Dr. Williamson quickly developed a reputation as a skilled surgeon and he would go on to perform the most phaco cataract surgeries in the history of the residency program, which dates back 100 years. Innovation and using the latest techniques was also a strong focus, and Dr. Williamson was one of the first resident physicians from the United States to perform all bladeless femtosecond laser cataract surgery on the Catalys prototype. He was also the first resident physician in the southern United States to become certified using iStent, a novel surgical device for the treatment of glaucoma and the smallest FDA approved medical device in the world.
After finishing residency training Dr. Williamson completed a one year fellowship in refractive cataract & advanced anterior segment surgery as well as iLASIK with internationally recognized cataract and refractive pioneer Dr. Charles Williamson. He is now in private practice specializing in vision correction surgery, which includes state of the art laser cataract surgery, presbyopic inlays, as well as bladeless all laser iLASIK. Following the pioneering tradition put forth by his family for decades, in 2016 Dr. Williamson became the first surgeon in Louisiana state history to implant the newly FDA approved extended depth of focus “Symfony” lens. He also became the first surgeon in the state to implant a corneal inlay for the treatment of presbyopia with the new “Raindrop” technology. Dr. Williamson is considered a Key Opinion Leader and consultant for several pharmaceutical and surgical device companies and has lectured nationally and internationally at major ophthalmology conferences.
Recent accolades include being selected to the Alcon Presbyopia Council, a member of the editorial board for Millennial Eye as well as the ASCRS Council of 100 whose goal is to shape the future direction of anterior segment surgery. Dr. Williamson believes that vision correction surgery is one of the greatest medical and scientific contributions given to mankind, and being able to restore the sight of his patients is the greatest joy of his professional life. Concern for those less fortunate and giving back has been a strong conviction throughout his career and as a Unite for Sight Global Impact Fellow he has performed surgery on 3 continents and continues to participate on surgical missions around the world.
Williamson Eye Center
550 Connells Park Lane
Baton Rouge, LA 70808 USA
Telephone – 225-924-2020
Email – BlakeWilliamson@WECEye.com