Staar Surgical Co. last month unveiled the new location of its company-owned ophthalmology training center.
The eye lens maker moved the EVO ICL Experience Center from its main Lake Forest office into an expanded space two blocks away at 25510 Commercentre Drive, which it leased in June, according to CoStar Group Inc. records.
Staar Surgical’s decision to expand the center came in response to the increase in de-mand for the company’s EVO Implantable Collamer Lenses (ICL) designed to treat my-opia, according to Chief Medical Officer Scott Barnes.
Since receiving Food and Drug Administration approval in 2022 for its latest product, the company has trained 700 U.S. surgeons on how to perform the procedure.
“With the launch of the EVO ICL proce-dure two years ago, there is a growing number of surgeons who want to be certified and trained on EVO,” Barnes told the Business Journal.
Staar Surgical held a grand opening for the new center on Sept. 26 with attendance from Barnes, Chief Executive Tom Frinzi and Chief Operating Officer Warren Foust.
LASIK Competitor
When the first EVO Center opened in November 2022, Barnes said it was a prototype for what the center could be once they had the budget and the space.
The new 2,000-square-foot center is equipped with wet lab stations for up to 24 people and a 120-inch 4K video array for video conferencing and streaming live surgeries.
Staar Surgical’s EVO ICL competes with LASIK surgery as an alternative for people seeking to replace contact lenses or glasses.
The surgery, a 20-to-30-minute procedure, permanently corrects a patient’s vision but can be removed by a doctor if their prescription changes.
Barnes said that Asia has embraced EVO ICL with sales in China, by far its biggest market, climbing 25% to $185.4 million in 2023.
The company’s also worked to gain traction in the U.S. as well in the last couple of years as the rate of myopia has doubled over the last three decades, according to the company.
Currently, about 42% of Americans are affected by nearsightedness. Its U.S. sales climbed 25% to$5.5 million in the second quarter.
Hands-on Training
Training for refractive surgery highly varies, Barnes said.
“A lot of the times, fellows and residents will graduate with minimal, if any, hands on experience,” he said.
An important part of the procedure is correctly choosing the right size lens to put in the eye, according to Barnes.
The EVO Experience Center will train surgeons on different eye measuring devices including the OCULUS Pentacam AXL Wave and the Zeiss’ IOLMaster 700. It will also train them on how to order lenses based on the eye dimensions using Staar’s latest system called Stella.
“We can show them about measuring eyes and then actually transfer that data into their learning of the lens ordering system,” Barnes said.
Staar Surgical plans to hold trainings at least every other month for new surgeons, as well as advanced training for those already experienced with ICLs.
