ESCRS 2023: Presbyopia treatment with microporation therapeutic technology by Ace Vision Group

AnnMarie Hipsley, DPT, PhD, Founder and CEO of Ace Vision Group, met with Ophthalmology Times Europe at the 2023 European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons to discuss Ace Vision Group's microporation therapeutic technology, used to treat presbyopia.

Video Transcript

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

AnnMarie Hipsley, DPT, PhD:

Hello, I'm Dr AnnMarie Hipsley. So, Ace Vision Group has 9 scientific papers and posters combined for the International Society of Presbyopia Meeting and also the ESCRS meeting. We are very ecstatic about bringing the new microporation therapeutic technology into ophthalmology. It is one of the first devices, which is a laser therapy, [that] basically treats presbyopia during the entire lifecycle. That lifecycle being from onset all the way through. It's a treatable, re-treatable platform. It is a scleral microporation with an erbium YAG. It's touchless, it's painless, and it takes 10 minutes. Our patients read their phones right away. [We are] very excited about this technology. There is no therapy that does restore the dynamic range of focus, it doesn't touch the cornea, it doesn't touch the lens. It's a true biomechanical treatment that's attacking this ocular rigidity from cross-linking in the sclera. That happens with age, cramping those muscles, not allowing them to move. Basically, it restores the natural dynamic range of focus function in the eye that moves the lens. It's so simple that it seems hard to wrap your brain around. But, it's been a really long journey to get here.

The VisioLite currently, which was developed in Liechtenstein, is in Boston, our new headquarters, [is] getting ready to go to the FDA next year. That's super exciting for us. We presented, today with Dr Bobby Ang, 100 Eyes of 50 patients, [the] data looking very good, sustaining results over 2 years. Patients are happy, [and] the satisfaction is great. It's been a great experience to close up that study. We're getting ready to roll out all the nuggets out of those studies.

We actually created a novel way to look at this disability called presbyopia. Dr Jim Katz and Dr Elizabeth Yeu are presenting at this congress, The Visual Age. You have a biological age, you have a chronological age, and you have a visual age. Some people were in readers early, 40 [to] 42. So we had a unique way and a unique proprietary formula to convert distance-corrected, near-visual acuity into what is your visual age. So, we were able to rejuvenate our patient population, almost 15 years over 2 years sustained. Immediately, they get about 18 years of rejuvenation. We're making our our patients visual age younger and younger to match their lifestyle and their health-related quality of life is improved because they don't feel old. They don't feel handicapped. They don't have to walk around with glasses or drops or anything in their pockets. They can just focus like they naturally do.

We have a lot of surprises coming in microporation therapeutics. Being that presbyopia isn't the only indication of use, we're developing a glaucoma IOP-reducing microporation pattern. We're also doing some interesting things with ocular drug delivery [and] laser-assisted ocular drug delivery, which is not coming soon. But, it's in the bench and it's very exciting to see that this whole field of laser scleral microporation is a tissue that's not been addressed. It's a wavelength that's unique. I think it's going to be a whole new genre therapeutic way to treat our patients and help bring back this longevity and health to the eye.