I was born in East Liverpool Ohio in 1967, and I grew up in Chancellorsville, Virginia. All of my life, I have been an Artist and Creative. www.nathanhorner.com
While attending art college in San Diego, in 1988, I began to surf.
For the last 20 years, I have lived in Hollywood California, where Nictavi was Founded in 2019.
My future’s so bright I gotta wear shades. But that’s not why I wear them. They’re prescription. I have an artificial cornea that is part of a medical journey that inspired me to start my company.
Since the late 90’s doctors had been treating the primary eye condition in my left eye, but throughout these treatments there was a secondary condition that was overlooked.
Through my own research, I stumbled upon my diagnosis of nocturnal lagophthalmos, the inability to close your eyes completely during sleep. This condition exposed my cornea to the air while I was sleeping, causing damage to the surface. Eventually the erosion led to an infection, as a result I nearly lost my left eye, and was blind in that eye for a year. Finally, to restore my vision I was given an artificial cornea, but the secondary condition persisted, affecting the corneal tissue that surrounds it.
By stabilizing the eyelid in the closed position, the eyelid becomes a band-aid for the eye, so to heal the corneal surface, my eye was sewn closed for a month, 3 times. In my search for alternatives, I quickly learned that there were no marketed over-the-counter solutions for attaining eyelid closure, and the options were frustrating, uncomfortable, and ineffective.
So, I created and patented the Tarsus Eyelid Patch.
The need for a comfortable, improved eyelid closure device and method has long been neglected, yet there has always been a prevalence of eye-related injuries and disorders that can be addressed, or prevented, with eyelid closure.
Plato said, "Necessity is the Mother of invention."
Being an Artist, creative problem solving and analytical thinking is in my nature. I invented the Tarsus Eyelid Patch utilizing my 20 years of experience working with 3M materials and adhesives at graphic printing companies. Using the simple mechanics of materials properties and behaviors, I created a more comfortable device for sustaining eyelid closure, to address my condition. Human-Centered Design is an approach to problem-solving that puts the end-user at the forefront of the process. As the inventor, and someone who is directly impacted by a need for an improved eyelid closure device, I created a solution using this methodology, though I am not an Ophthalmologist or Optometrist.