From legally blind to 20/20: How this made-in-Canada innovation has restored sight for thousands of patients

The device known as eSight 4 looks is straight out of Star Trek: a pair of grey-framed goggles attached to a rigid headband that goes over the user’s forehead and circles to the back of the head into a small battery pack. But this futuristic contraption is actually a medical device, restoring sight to patients with central vision loss. It works so well that most users now enjoy 20/20 vision and can engage in activities such watching TV, shopping and reading. “Across all iterations of the device, there have been 4,000 users,” Roland Mattern, director of marketing for Toronto-based eSight Corporation, told the Medical Post. “Currently, about 2,000 people use eSight, mostly in North America but also in France, U.K. and Australia.” Effective for most patients with central vision loss—some remaining retinal function is required—eSight is used today by patients with more than 20 different eye conditions. The most common ones include macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, macular and cone rod dystrophy, optic atrophy or neuropathy, ocular albinism, keratoconus, optic nerve hypoplasia and retinopathy of prematurity. eSight wearers typically have visual acuity of between 20/60 and 20/800, but some also register at 20/1,400. To assess patients for suitability, eSight sends them a device and arranges a telehealth consultation where patients discuss how they want to use the device—for example, are they interested in using it for everyday activities like reading, or are they planning to start travelling once they can see better—and get trained on how to use it. Read: Novel blood disorder drug reduces geographic atrophy in dry macular degeneration “We let them try the device for a few days and at the end of the evaluation period, they can ship it back to us if it’s not effective for them or they can go ahead and purchase it,” said Mattern. “Very quickly you’ll know if the device works for you or not. If you’re a suitable candidate, you put it on and you’ll be able to see better. Within an hour of orientation, you’ll be reading 20/20 from an eye chart.” One user visited New York shortly after he started wearing eSight, “and he went to Broadway and watched ‘Come From Away.’ Without eSight, that would have been impossible.” So how does eSight work? Mattern pointed to a high-speed, high-definition camera, built into centre of the goggles, that picks up images that can’t be perceived by patients with central vision loss. These images are then projected onto two miniature OLED screens—one for each eye—on the inside lens of the goggles. Advanced sensors and algorithms, along with powerful processors, synthesize the visual information for the brain to translate into an image. Read: Eye changes that lead to retinopathy start in prediabetes “So suddenly, the blind spot goes away and you can see what’s right in front of you,” said Mattern. “Whereas without eSight you would just see the person in front of you as a blur.” A number of controls allow users to adjust for things like magnification, colour and contrast. eSight began as a personal project more than three decades ago, when Ontario electrical engineer Conrad Lewis—a high achiever who had skipped Grades 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9—decided he was going to “find a way to fix the problem” of his two sisters’ blindness from Stargard’s disease, the most common inherited single-gene retinal disease. The first iteration was a big, clunky box that had to be screwed onto his sister’s head. In 2013, backed by millions of dollars of investment, the first consumer-ready eSight prototype was released. Read: ER doctor and team awarded $2.5 million for developing Star Trek-inspired diagnostic device This year, eSight is set to launch the fifth generation of its device, called eSight Go. This newest model is a departure from the sci-fi aesthetic of the models so far, said Mattern. “eSight Go is designed to look more like a regular pair of sunglasses,” he said. “We get that with the current model, wearers often get weird looks from people so some might shy away from it even if they know they can benefit from it. That’s why the new version is sleeker and more discreet.” Most patients are referred to eSight by their ophthalmologist, said Mattern. The company would like to see more doctors, including family physicians, talk to their patients about the device. eSight costs about $9,000 but comes with a discount of about $1,000 when a patient is referred by a doctor, said Mattern. In Alberta, eSight users can apply for a $2,000 subsidy towards their device through a Canadian National institute for the Blind. In the U.S., the device is covered 100% for military veterans, said Mattern. “With technology like eSight, we’re giving back independence not only to people with vision loss but also to their caregivers and the family around them,” he said. “We have people going back to playing golf, woodworking, scrapbooking and travelling. They can shop for their own groceries again, they can get around their community and they can see the faces of their family and friends.” Read: Close to half of AMD patients using aflibercept can be weaned off eye injections

From legally blind to 20/20: How this made-in-Canada innovation has restored sight for thousands of patients

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