They look into your eyes to predict a variety of diseases – ET HealthWorld


New Delhi: Indians have smaller pupilsabout 2.5-3 mm in size, compared to those in the West (4-4.5 mm). Perhaps that is evolution’s response to the intense sunlight to which tropical countries are exposed. This is the reason why ophthalmologists in India need to dilate the pupils to obtain good images of the retina and understand eye diseases. But the dilation, and the waiting time it entails, is a great challenge if there are many patients. Imported eye testing kits are mainly made for Western eyes, which are naturally dilated. How can a device be created that can test Indian eyes without dilating them?

This was the question that K Chandrasekhar (KC) and Venkatakrishnan S (Venkat) had to answer when they realized, about 15 years ago, that there are widespread eye problems among the poorest Indians and that most of them go undiagnosed. They were then working for Philips in their semiconductor division (which later became NXP). Once, one of the guests at Philips was a prominent doctor from Aravind Eye Hospitals in Madurai. That discussion gave KC and Venkat their first insights into eye problems in India. KC remembers a video of Aravind that says, “In India, a blind man is seen as a mouth without hands.” A responsibility towards your own family and friends. “A laborer who has worked for 60 or 70 years often goes blind and is then considered a burden by his own children as they have to do their daily work,” says KC.

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The two started visiting Aravind hospitals regularly. They found many serious eye problems, such as diabetic retinopathyGlaucoma and macular degeneration, which lead to vision loss without the patient realizing it, were growing rapidly, mainly due to the increasing incidence of diabetes, but were treatable. They understood why the common man did not go to the ophthalmologist. They understood how few ophthalmologists were. And they decided to address the problem.

They formed a company called Forus to create a device that could be taken to remote areas to massive eye tests. Giving hundreds of people dilation drops and asking them to wait for their tests was not practical. It was then that they were confronted by the small opening of Indian eyes. “All eyepieces are basically lighting and imaging systems,” says Venkat. While refractive problems (where prescription glasses are needed) and cataracts primarily affect the front of the eye, more serious problems affect the retina at the back of the eye. And that had to be illuminated and the image extracted.

KC and Venkat formed a team with expertise in optics, mechanical and industrial design, electronics and firmware. It took them three years, but in the end they had created what they call one of the best lenses in the world: lenses that can emit enough light, which is also medically safe, and obtain a diagnosable image of the retina. .

Today they have 7 patents granted, another 12 are pending. They have 8 products. They have 3,800 facilities in 73 countries. “We have intervened in 16 million lives and probably ensured that about 3 million did not go blind,” says KC. Accel, TPG and IDG are investors. Revenue, KC says, grew about 30% in each of the last three years, and the company has been profitable in these years. They even carry out product assembly in the basement of their Bengaluru office, in a high-quality clean room.

Future with AI

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Today, AI enables exciting innovations beyond its original products. The nerves and blood vessels of the eye are biomarkers of cardiovascular, neurological and nephrological risks and autoimmune diseases. The millions of images captured by Forus systems over the years allow them to analyze multiple parameters in the nerves, arteries and veins of the eye to predict these other diseases. “We are actively working on Alzheimer’s and dementia, and also trying to see if we can predict strokes,” says KC. It’s a work in progress, but the results so far, he says, are very promising. Making predictions non-invasively, with ocular images, could be transformative.

  • Published on January 15, 2025 at 01:53 pm IST

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