Ophthalmologist claims Ocumetics Bionic Lens to revolutionize vision correction

(Medical Xpress)—British Columbia optometrist, inventor and CEO of Ocumetics Technology Corp, Dr Garth Webb is claiming in meetings with the press that his new Ocumetics Bionic Lens is set to revolutionize vision correction. He outlined his new lens at a recent American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting, suggesting that the technology that he and his team has developed will cause corrective, regular and contact lenses along with Lasik surgery to become obsolete. He says his lens will also eliminate the possibility of a person getting cataracts.

Thus far, more specific information is limited, though it appears those in attendance for his presentation were impressed. Webb said he and his company have spent $3 million over the past eight years developing the lens, applying for patents and working with doctors in several places to begin clinical trials. He told the audience that applying the lens would be a simple eight minute procedure—one where the lens is folded like a taco and placed inside a syringe, where it is then injected into the eye. He further claims that the bionic lens would give the recipient vision that is three times better than normal, regardless of how bad their vision was beforehand (a clock that looks fuzzy to a person beforehand from ten feet away, he said, would become crystal clear afterwards from thirty feet away). He also told audience members that the lens is made from inert materials that will not change human eye physiology and that he believes the lens will be made available to the public within two years—it will have to pass trials in animals and then clinical trials in blind humans first.

Though the claims made by Webb seem fantastical, the realization of such a lens would be truly revolutionary—every person (that could afford them and who does not have other eye injuries or diseases) would have the opportunity to have perfect vision, from approximately age 25 (when the eyes fully mature) until old age and that includes those who would have otherwise developed cataracts. That cannot happen with the new lens, because it will not decay with age—the Ocumetics lens replaces the human lens, a factor that is likely to hinder its introduction to the general populace, at least initially.

© 2015 Medical Xpress