Dr. Mohamed Abou Shousha spends his day working with patients who are losing their vision.
There are several possible causes for complete or partial vision loss, such as aging, injuries or medical conditions. In other cases, patients lose their eyesight because they couldn't obtain preventive care.
"I've seen people who literally went blind during Covid because they didn't have access to vision care," said Shousha, describing how some patients opted out of or skipped annual checkups and other exams during the pandemic.
Shousha is the founder and CEO of Miami-based Heru, a spin-off company from the University of Miami's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. The startup's FDA-registered artificial intelligence-driven platform is designed to diagnose a range of vision defects through virtual and augmented reality headsets. The software is compatible with commercially available headsets made by companies like Meta (the owner of Oculus) and Magic Leap.
With Heru, a VR headset can replace vision diagnostic machines and instruments typically used by physicians during exams. That equipment can cost anywhere from $200,000 to $300,000, Shousha said. In comparison, virtual reality headsets can be purchased for less than $1,000.
Heru uses virtual reality to essentially gamify the entire experience. In one test, for example, the user is prompted to use a hand control to click every time they see a white circle bounce into their field of vision. Another requires the user to point and click on numbers or letters that appear in front of them to test for color blindness.
Shousha said the software could lead to enormous cost savings for doctors, which he hopes they will pass down to patients. That would make vision exams more accessible to the general population. It also saves time: Heru's diagnostic and wellness tests can be completed in less than five minutes, making it possible for physicians to book more patient appointments per day.
"We want to solve the problem of limited access," Shousha said. "Democratic access to vision care is what we're aiming for."
An estimated 93 million Americans are at high risk for vision loss, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But in a 2020 survey, only about half of respondents had visited an eye doctor over the previous 12 months.
Most cited lack of awareness or cost as a barrier to care, made more difficult by a lack of adequate health insurance coverage, the CDC reports. Regular exams are key to treat ailments that could be prevented if caught early, like vision loss due to glaucoma.
That's especially important for low-income and minority communities, Shousha said. Black and Hispanic populations are four times more likely than white populations to develop glaucoma, a condition that can cause irreversible eye damage, he said.
Heru tested its first patient last September. Since then, the software has been used in 10,000 eye exams in 39 states. The startup is backed by more than $30 million in venture capital, with D1 Capital Partners, SoftBank Ventures Opportunity Fund and Krillion Ventures among the investors.
Eventually, Heru will make it possible for patients to access eye care from any location with nothing more than a VR headset.
"That would be huge for people who need regular vision monitoring," Shousha said. "Instead of taking a whole afternoon off to go to a doctor's office, they'll be able to do the exam from their own homes."
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