UNC senior Sasha Surkin is the CEO and founder of the startup WeyeZE, pronounced “wise,” where she creates self-corrective eyeglass kits to address deficits in vision health care accessibility.
When Surkin was 15, she read a story in The New York Times focused on how the lack of sufficient visual care created a deficit in global productivity and the impact of unaffordable vision care on middle and lower classes.
At the time, Surkin was experiencing vision problems of her own, but she said she used her time at the optometrist to explore interests, asking questions about how the different machines functioned.
"I love knowing how things work," she said.
Surkin said that the problem in optical care has two roots: geographic and financial. To solve these problems, her kit can be ordered directly on the WeyeZE website or through organizations buying and distributing kits to their communities.
She said her WeyeZe kits layer optical-quality lens stickers over glasses frames with non-corrective lenses, and, depending on how thick or thin the stickers are layered, the light will bend accordingly to what the eye needs.
The product mimics what you would see in traditional glasses, Surkin said
She said to thinkof it as a screen protector, but since the stickers are made of static adhesive, they can be taken on and off without changing their quality or the original lens’ integrity.
With the success of her beta program, Surkin said she hopes that in around a year, once she makes the product available on the WeyeZE website, she will be able to allow consumers to customize the stylistic aspects of the kit. However, WeyeZE is starting with a standard design for children and adults. The children's frames, she said, are made of flexible and difficult-to-break plastic in case a child drops them on the playground at school or at home.
