Pushing boundaries with advanced technologies
In this feature, Frank Chen (Associate Director, Santen Ventures, US), Gus Gazzard (Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon and Glaucoma Service Director at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK) and Mark Packer (President of Packer Research Associates Inc., Boulder, Colorado, US) discuss how emerging innovations become validated technologies – particularly in the surgical field – that are shaping the present and future of ophthalmology.
“The current COVID-19 pandemic is a good reminder that we must always think ahead and plan for the future. Home health monitoring and telemedicine, for example, could well become the new normal. Investment in the technologies emerging out of immediate need, will ultimately help connect patients to physicians in any circumstance…and build better datasets for research, public health, and insight generation in the future.”
Frank Chen, Associate Director, Santen Ventures, US
“Now, direct selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) – an innovative treatment being developed from a collaboration between Santen and BELKIN Laser – has opened the possibility of improving glaucoma patient outcomes even further. With the proof of concept established, and trials ongoing, the future could see a quick, straightforward, regularly reapplied treatment for intraocular pressure (IOP) control.”
Gus Gazzard, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon and Glaucoma Service Director at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK
“The idea of a Mono-EDoF™ [intraocular] lens hits a much-needed compromise between quality of vision and seeing well without glasses in any circumstances. Good-quality vision at the intermediate range, commonly used in today’s world – the world at an arm’s length, as I call it – is the range patients want and need to access without glasses, and this is what the xact™ Mono-EDoF™ IOL provides.”
Mark Packer, President of Packer Research Associates Inc., Boulder, Colorado, US
