2024 year in review: highlights in optometry
Optometry 360 Editorial Advisory Board member Mary Beth Yackey, OD, recaps the highlights of 2024 and takes a look into the new year with exciting advancements in the field of optometry.
Mary Beth Yackey, OD:
My name is Mary Beth Yackey, and I am an optometrist, and I work at the Cincinnati Eye Institute (CEI). I specifically work in the Retina Clinic. I am also an editorial advisory board member for Optometry 360, and it’s my pleasure to be here with you, and I’m excited to share some of my very favorite things that happened throughout the year of 2024.
I broke this down by months that things were brought out in the market and were approved by the FDA and how they were impactful, especially in the optometry world and specifically in retina.
One of the first things in January, the OrCam was given to us, and basically, this is a device that is using artificial intelligence, and it is a device driven for computer vision and machine learning to support the blind. There are different little characteristics of it, and there’s MyEye, Read, and Read 3, and all of these act differently. One is for daily activities, one is for reading, and then one actually will even summarize the text and read it back, and if the person who has low vision doesn’t understand what is happening, it can even summarize what they were supposed to be able to read. That’s a really cool tool that we were given for those who might have low vision.
In February, we were given RetinAI, and what this is is another artificial intelligence program, but this was really driven for the optometrist in the primary care setting who might want to understand better what they’re seeing in their OCT. This uses fluid segmentation, layer segmentation, advanced layer segmentation, and macular biomarkers. Basically, again, what this does, in a nutshell, is it allows the optometrist to see those unique pathology markings in a way that artificial intelligence will promote and show for the everyday user.
In March, one of these things that is near and dear to my heart are these GA drugs. In 2023, we were very, very lucky to have 2 new geographic atrophy drugs released. In March, we finally got the second J code for Astella’s product, which is Izervay. We already have Syfovre, made by Apellis, which is wonderful. These drugs, again, are injectable intravitreal medications that are given once a month or once every other month depending on the drug, and we are now able to give these freely to patients who have the need with dry age-related macular degeneration, the advanced stage, with geographic atrophy. These are really cool, and what I’ve seen now that we are later in 2024 is really how these drugs are able to slow down the process, not stop, but at least slow down the process of vision loss with geographic atrophy and advanced age-related macular degeneration.
Next, another thing that’s near and dear to my heart that I was able to play a little bit of a role in is Haag-Streit introduced its new ophthalmoscope for retinopathy of prematurity. This was in April, and this is really just to help residents learn about retinopathy of prematurity, learn different areas and zones, and how to classify it better so that they will in real-life clinic be able to actually identify these structures better.
Finally, in May, the FDA approved some AI screening tools for diabetic retinopathy. The name literally is AEye. This is really cool because this allows people who weren’t able to get screenings for diabetes, which there are tons that are underserved, are now able to get these screenings and they are now referred to optometrists’ offices for further evaluations when there’s any diabetic retinopathy found.
Topcon also partnered with tons of companies throughout 2024, and what I love about Topcon is they are being mutually inclusive. There are so many ways that they’re including other companies to bring about AI that will better help us all treat our patients.
Haag-Streit 3D imaging also came out in May. That was another thing, like I said, I got to have a part in. This is a 4K camera with 3D digital view. It’s a really cool way to visualize things in 3D. This is new.
Then another near and dear, May was a big month, tool that came out that is really important to me is the Notal Vision device that is the at-home OCT. Now, this is really going to help ophthalmologists better treat our patients with macular degeneration. We are wasting billions of dollars on unnecessary treatment every year. The way this at-home OCT device will work, it is approved for those with wet macular degeneration, and they do this test at home. It allows the practitioner to better understand when they really need treatments, because a lot of times they’re giving anti-VEGF on these treatment models based on once a month, and maybe they don’t need it every month, and we’ve never had a way to really determine when the fluid is coming back. Now they might be able to extend the treatment or maybe they need to bring them back a little bit sooner in some cases. Again, the at-home OCT, I think, has a really great thing for our patients really to be able to gain access to care without being in the office so frequently of unneeded time. It also allows the ophthalmologists to treat patients that do really need the care, because they’re so busy right now with all the treatment.
Along the lines of wet macular degeneration, also in 2024, I was really excited to see that Susvimo was reintroduced. Susvimo is another way that we are enabling our patients to get care through a port delivery device in their eye. There’s a suture device in the eye that allows slow release of, basically, anti-VEGF medications, specifically Lucentis. This is placed in the eye, and the patient will come in once every 6 months for a refill, on average, and this helps to sustain and maintain wet macular degeneration.
We also saw many biosimilars released in 2024. What does that mean? The generics of Lucentis and Eylea have been released, and these are going to be at a lower cost, hopefully, for patients, and we’ll see if they’re incorporated. I do believe some insurances are even requiring those to be tried before further assessment with other drugs.
Then Eyedaptic in August was introduced. This is an AI-powered smart glass, which is really cool. We later will see that eSight in November was released. This is a wearable AI device. Basically, it magnifies images for patients who have central loss of vision such as geographic atrophy. It looks Star Trekky, but I will say I think it’s really cool because patients now can go and read a menu because it’s magnified into their field of vision where they don’t have normal vision.
Another really exciting tool for macular degeneration is LumiThera came out in November of 2024 with FDA approval. LumiThera is really cool. It’s a light-delivery system, basically, and what it does is it photobiomodulates photoreceptors that are damaged with age-related macular degeneration. This treatment has been met with such excitement in Europe, and we’re now able to give it to our patients here in the US. What it does is it allows increased best-corrected visual acuity over 24 months in the studies. Patients were able to gain more than 5 letters on the Snellen acuity chart for early to intermediate dry age-related macular degeneration, and that includes those with very, very small geographic atrophy lesions.
A lot to be thankful for this year, and I will say I can continue, and say next year in 2025 what I look forward to, and maybe even into 2026, is there are so many companies coming out with ways to actually treat and help, again, geographic atrophy. It seems like that’s the big buzzword in this whole what am I excited for? What have I seen? But Nanoscope, for example. There’s a couple other companies, RetroSense, GenSight. There’s Ray Therapeutics.
Novartis has come out with 2 systems. Basically, these are using light, again, gene therapy, and it targets the retinal neurons to become sensitive to the light. This supplements the need for functional photoreceptors, and basically, it’s using the opsins in the retinal ganglion cells or the bipolar cells, but pretty cool, pretty much more non-invasive than I was thinking, because I know there’s other genetic things that I’m excited for that are a little bit more invasive and require surgery. Our own clinic at CEI is involved in some stem-cell research, which looks very promising, placing stem cells into those areas of geographic atrophy and macular degeneration. I know in the early stages of FDA trials, we’ve been excited to see vision improvement and even retina gain.
A lot of excitement; 2024 was exciting; 2023 brought on some excitement that led into 2024, and now I can just see 2025 and 2026. Selfishly, for all of our patients, I’m thrilled. I look forward to the future, and I thank you for your time today.
