EyeMount 360: A New Era of Ophthalmic Surgical Training

Ophthalmology training runs through the wet lab, where surgeons practice on animal eyes before working their skill on a patient. As of today, most ophthalmic eye mounts in the market hold the globe fixed in one position, a mismatch to lived reality, as real surgery demands constant repositioning for better access to the eye. This mismatch limits wet-lab training in most ophthalmic institutions.

To close that gap, a young team from the Aravind Eye Hospital presented ‘EyeMount 360′ at the LVPEI-AIOS Innovation Day 2025. The national platform for early-stage eye care innovation received over 65 submissions across India, through which this dynamic eye-mounting system won the Industry Special Recognition Award and support to further develop the design. Here’s where the L V Prasad Eye Institute Center for Technology Innovation (CFTI) took over. In collaboration with Aravind Eye Hospital, the team at CFTI carried the concept through further prototyping, refinement, and validation, turning the clinical makeshift idea into a scalable, functional training device.

What does EyeMount 360 do?

EyeMount 360 combines stability with freedom of movement through five components:

• A dedicated globe holder for training eyes
• Suction-assisted fixation to securely stabilize the globe
• A 360-degree ball-joint assembly for multi-directional positioning
• Spring-loaded stabilization for controlled movement
• An ergonomic base that doubles as a hand-rest during microsurgery, preventing trainees from picking up compensatory techniques. Together, these updated features let ophthalmic trainees reposition the eye mid-procedure, the way surgeons do in a live operating room, without losing fixation or mobility.

Thousands of ophthalmologists rely on wet labs each year to build surgical competence before entering the operating room. By narrowing the gap between simulation and surgery, EyeMount 360, engineered to eliminate constraints, is positioned to strengthen ophthalmic surgical training across India and beyond. Because better surgical outcomes begin with better surgical training.