Meet Ocumetics’ Experts: Dr. Garth Webb, the Team’s Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Webb has 45 years of expertise in the world of eye care and is a dedicated optometrist committed to helping eye care patients.

 If you ask Dr. Garth Webb what drives him forward, he’ll probably tell you his reason is a bit different from his Ocumetics colleagues.

As a child, Dr. Webb grew up with nearsightedness — also known as myopia — which is a visual abnormality where near objects appear clear, but distant objects appear blurry.  Dr. Webb rebelled against the condition from a young age, refusing to accept this would be a condition he would have to live with forever, and spent his childhood learning everything he could about myopia. He hoped he would discover a solution that would allow him to abandon his glasses. Through that desire and exploration, Webb’s path led him to optometry and to the belief that “perfect eyesight should be a human right.”

Today, Dr. Webb describes himself as a “visual scientist.” He is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Ocumetics, a Canadian-based research and development company      dedicated to vision enhancement. Dr. Webb and Ocumetics are developing an accommodating intraocular lens technology they believe has the potential to provide clear distance and near vision for everyone.   

At the core of both Dr. Webb and Ocumetics is an interest in the application of practical technology, or “engineering for the eyes,” as Dr. Webb likes to describe it.

Driving forward uncompromised vision

The ability to restore and preserve perfect vision, both through nutritional science and innovative technology, has been a driving force behind much of Dr. Webb’s 45-year optometry career.

In the fall of 1977, after graduating from the University of Waterloo, School of Optometry, Dr. Webb co-founded the Complete EyeCare Optometry Clinic, now one of Canada’s largest group practices of optometry.

He has pioneered the development of various health care items, such as a portable micro-filtration device that was used to sterilize liquid pharmaceuticals, eliminating the need for chemical preservatives; a self-disinfecting closure for multiple use hypodermic      needles for insulin delivery; and a growing list of intraocular lenses. He was also involved in developing nutritional supplements that slow progression of degenerative eye conditions and show promise in stimulating intracellular repair (Ventura Health Sciences Corporation, founded in 2008).

“To me, success is defined by the ability to make lives better and to make a real difference in people’s lives,” says Dr. Webb.

A future with accommodating lens technology

Through Ocumetics, which he founded in 2012, Dr. Webb plans to transform the world of eye care through advanced lens technology. The design of the Ocumetics accommodating intraocular lens is intended to shift the focus of the human eye from far to near without a perceptible time lag. Ocumetics is in the process of obtaining FDA approval for commercialization of the Ocumetics accommodating lens.

“At Ocumetics, our value systems and our life experiences really direct us,” says Webb, explaining that his supportive home life growing up is the second driving force behind his work. 

“It’s the reason I believe I feel more compassion for other people and want uncompromised vision to be the new standard.”

Ocumetics is developing an accommodating intraocular lens and believes this cutting-edge lens technology could reduce the need for corrective eyewear by helping people achieve clear distance and near vision. The Ocumetics team says the replacement lens is designed to work with each person’s unique anatomy to provide the same biokinetic responses of the human eye for vision at all distances.

 For more information on the Ocumetics lens technologies and the Ocumetics team, visit https://opportunity.ocumetics.com/investors/. For more information on investing in Ocumetics’ lens technology, email info@ocumetics.com.