Staar Surgical Announces Strategic Alliance Agreement with California Center for Refractive Surgery (CCRS)
Staar Surgical announced it has entered into a strategic alliance with the California Center for Refractive Surgery (CCRS), a Los Angeles based eye care group with locations in Hancock Park and Sherman Oaks.
“Our new multi-clinic alliance with CCRS and its founder Dr. Paul Lee is representative of the new strategic partnership model we are now offering to highly-qualified ophthalmic partners in the U.S., the second largest market for refractive vision correction in the world,” Caren Mason, President and CEO of Staar Surgical, said in a company news release. “Dr. Lee is a leading ophthalmic surgeon who attended our inaugural U.S. Surgeons Council Summit earlier this year, has subsequently increased his commitment to use our Visian ICL family of lenses for vision correction in his clinics and now has plans to open one of the first lens-based only clinics in the United States in the near future. We look forward to supporting Dr. Lee’s practice development through digital marketing, patient education tools and certified surgeon and staff training relating to the Visian ICL as we partner to address the growing patient need for vision correction in the U.S.”
Dr. Lee has performed thousands of various refractive procedures over an illustrious career spanning more than 20 years. His distinctions include being a leading Visian ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens) surgeon, the first U.S. surgeon to be certified in SMILE, and receiving the Alcon Centurion Surgeon Award.
“My goal as a surgeon has always been to give patients freedom from their glasses for a lifetime and the Visian ICL family of implantable Collamer lenses can play a key role in doing just that,” said Dr. Paul Lee, Founder and Medical Director of CCRS. “The ICL is a quick additive procedure that preserves future options by leaving the eye in its most natural state. This has far-reaching implications for patients in terms of visual outcome and satisfaction, both short term and long term. There is growing awareness and acceptance of lens-based surgery, such as the Visian ICL, as surgeons like myself begin to see limitations of cornea based refractive procedures as the standard of care. The ICL is removable which potentially gives a patient the option as they age to replace the ICL lens with a lens that addresses presbyopia and/or cataracts. Data and experience with the ICL, particularly overseas where surgeons have utilized the lenses more broadly, is outstanding and I am currently identifying potential locations in the greater Pasadena area for a lens-based only clinic where we will offer the ICL as the primary refractive solution. My staff and I are excited to offer even more patients the advantages of the Visian ICL family of lenses, which include no dry-eye syndrome or weakening of the cornea and excellent vision outcomes.”