Alan Patterson was born on 6 May 1933. At his secondary school he was one of the only two students considered good enough to attend university. He studied medicine at Liverpool University commencing in 1950 and qualifying in 1956. Awarded the Robert Gee fellowship in anatomy, he obtained a doctorate in 1960. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1965. After studying ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital, he moved back to Liverpool, where he was appointed consultant ophthalmologist at St Paul’s Eye Hospital and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Specialising in the anatomy of the anterior segment of the eye, he published numerous significant papers. Some of his groundbreaking work on herpetic infections of the cornea and on antiviral medications still dictates clinical practice today. At St Paul’s eye unit, towards the end of his career, he instigated the use of the excimer laser and refractive eye service. Ironically he himself was to develop eye problems in his old age. Apparently he commented that now he was a patient himself he *learned that when the instruction ‘read the chart from the top please’ applies to you, life is very different indeed*. When he died on 23 November 2017 aged 84, he was survived by his wife Flo, daughters, Luise and Julie, son Andrew and five grandchildren.