Ocutrx Vision Technologies, a California-based technology startup, has developed an augmented reality headset, which executives say can help those with age-related macular degeneration.
Hugo Quiroz-Mercado, a retinal surgeon at the Hospital para Evitar la Ceguera en México and professor at the University of Colorado, said he was frustrated by limited technology on the market to help those who suffer from the disease, which is expected to hurt the vision of more than 200 million people worldwide by 2020.
“We give shots to help delay the progression of AMD, but, as a physician and a surgeon, my goal is to have better patient outcomes,” Quiroz-Mercado said.
The Oculenz AR wearable is the only solution for correcting AMD on the market, he said.
The Oculenz headshot was inspired and conceived by Michael and Mitch Freeman when their father was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration. Ocutrx has patented eye tracking technology and also offers the Oculenz AR glasses.
“We started with computer programming in real time with my father’s vision to identify the edges of his scotoma, which is the area that is damaged and has no vision,” CEO and CTO Michael Freeman said.
The Freemans developed an algorithm that modified the image to push the streaming video to avoid the area of the defect.
