TearScience Announces Herzig Eye Institute as Its First Center of Excellence

Herzig Eye Institute to Assist Eye Care Practices in Optimizing Implementation of Breakthrough Dry Eye Treatment

MORRISVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TearScience, Inc., a privately-held medical device company, today announced Toronto-based Herzig Eye Institute, one of the leading authorities in laser vision correction and advanced cataract and refractive surgery, as its first Center of Excellence.

“The Center of Excellence concept is a valuable service that TearScience provides to forward-thinking eye care practices embracing dry eye treatment as a new service. We are glad to assist other eye care professionals in implementing this important treatment system to better serve dry eye patients.”

As a Center of Excellence, Herzig Eye Institute will educate eye care practices on how best to successfully implement TearScience’s LipiFlow^® Thermal Pulsation System within a busy practice setting. TearScience’s system effectively distinguishes and treats one of the primary causes of dry eye disease.

“Herzig Eye Institute is one of the most innovative eye care centers in North America,” said Jeff O’Hara, vice president of North American sales. “Herzig is the perfect model for helping other eye care practices become effective at integrating the LipiFlow^® treatment. Given Herzig’s excellent clinical results using LipiFlow^® and how they have optimized patient flow, Herzig serves as a model of efficiency from which others can benefit.”

Evaporative dry eye is caused by a deficiency in the lipid layer of the eye’s natural tear film, resulting from blockages in the lipid-producing meibomian glands located in the eyelids, called meibomian gland dysfunction. A lipid deficiency can lead to evaporation of tears at a faster rate than normal, which can leave eyes feeling dry, irritated, tired, and red. TearScience’s LipiFlow^® system unblocks and evacuates obstructed meibomian glands during a 12 minute in-office procedure under the care of a physician. Post treatment, the meibomian glands may resume their natural production of lipids needed for a healthy tear film.

“Herzig Eye Institute is very pleased to be TearScience’s first Center of Excellence,” said Dr. Sheldon Herzig, co-founder and medical director of the Herzig Eye Institute. “The Center of Excellence concept is a valuable service that TearScience provides to forward-thinking eye care practices embracing dry eye treatment as a new service. We are glad to assist other eye care professionals in implementing this important treatment system to better serve dry eye patients.”

TearScience’s system is comprised of the LipiView^® Ocular Surface Interferometer and the LipiFlow^® Thermal Pulsation System. LipiView^® allows physicians to image the tear film of dry eye patients. LipiFlow^® applies precise directed energy in a combination of heat and pulsatile pressure to a patient’s eyelids to facilitate the release of lipids from blocked meibomian glands.

About TearScience, Inc.

Headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, TearScience^® has pioneered devices that provide significant clinical improvement in the treatment of evaporative dry eye. Of the more than 100 million dry eye sufferers worldwide, approximately 65 percent have evaporative dry eye, which is often caused by meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) and a lipid deficiency of the eye’s natural tear film. The Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) workshop, involving two years of work by 50 leading experts from around the world, concluded that MGD is an under-estimated condition and is very likely the most frequent cause of dry eye disease. TearScience’s integrated, in-office system enables eye care professionals to effectively address a root cause of evaporative dry eye, obstructed meibomian glands. For additional information, visit www.TearScience.com.

About the Herzig Eye Institute:

The Herzig Eye Institute has treated thousands of patients from across Canada, 42 US states and 23 countries worldwide. The Herzig Eye Institute is led by Co-Founder and Medical Director Sheldon Herzig, MD, FRCSC, a world-renowned expert in his field and past president of the Canadian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeon who prepared the Recommended Safety Guidelines for Laser Refractive Centres in Canada and Co-Founder and CEO Cherry Tabb, recipient of the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Innovations. The Herzig Eye Institute’s High Definition Vision® solutions utilize only the most advanced vision correction technology as well as other proven intraocular surgical procedures for patients who do not qualify for laser surgery. The Herzig Eye Institute also offers treatments for presbyopia including NearVision CK, Monovision LASIK, Refractive Lens Exchange, the Intraocular Collamer Lens (ICL), as well as providing Advanced Cataract Solutions. The Herzig Eye Institute is the only custom vision correction surgical centre in North America to be awarded the prestigious ISO 9001 certification by SGS International Certification Services, Inc.