WHEN THE AMERICAN SOCIETY of Cataract and Refractive Surgery recognized Dr. Paul Honan ’43 as one of only two honored guests at its annual symposium in 2010, the group celebrated his invention decades ago of an instrument that made cataract surgery safer and his implantation of lenses in the 1970s.
But Honan’s innovative and comprehensive approach to medicine hardly ends there. At 92, Honan is still open-minded, and that’s led him to become one of a growing number of traditional physicians who also embrace alternative or complementary therapies.
Exploring new frontiers in medicine has been a lifelong calling for Honan.
In the 1950s that pioneer spirit inspired his invention of Honan Intraocular Pressure Reducer, a balloon-like device that allowed more precise application of pressure during cataract surgery.
In 1975 he performed one of the first lens implants in Indiana at Witham Hospital in Lebanon.
And in 1998, after fighting for 10 years a recurrence of the asthma he’d suffered from in childhood and additional life-threatening food allergies, Honan tried a new therapy at the urging of his children.
“At first I rejected Devi Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) as quackery,” Honan says. “But my children urged me to go—they gave me a gift of a trip to Florida to receive the treatment. How could I say no?”
After being treated by ophthalmologist Peter Holyk, Honan’s asthma improved. He attended Dr. Nambudripad’s training course and many of his other allergies went away.
Honan went against the advice of some colleagues and has been offering NAET therapy to his patients for years.
NAET may go against the grain of traditional medicine (although ongoing clinical studies are promising), but orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Barth Conard ’74 needs no convincing.
Several years ago he brought his 14-year-old daughter, diagnosed with severe asthma, to Honan’s office for treatment. Today she is asthma free.
“Because of Paul Honan and his understanding and experience with traditional and other therapies, you start to see other approaches out there that do work,” Conard says. “He has a unique awareness of all the stuff on both sides of the fence.”
Honan writes in his book, Eliminate Your Allergies: “Initially I was turned off by the idea of NAET because of my traditional physician bias against any therapy not presented in medical school or in the medical literature. I nearly missed the boat to a curative therapy that is without harmful effects.”
Dr. Honan’s ability to see “on both sides of the fence” is paying off for his patients with food allergies more than 50 years after the invention he was honored for by his professional organization.
“If you approach medicine with an open mind, there’s always something to learn,” Honan says. “I’m always learning.”
Read more about Dr. Honan’s work, as well as a fascinating history of medicine in Indiana, at WM Online.