Researchers have tested a wireless contact lens that monitors eye pressure and delivers drugs for the condition of glaucoma when needed.
A wireless contact lens device can help treat the eye condition glaucoma by monitoring the build-up of pressure in the eye, and automatically dispense medicines when that pressure gets too high.
Glaucoma is estimated to affect about 80 million people worldwide. The condition is caused by insufficient drainage of fluid from the eye. That increases eye pressure and can damage the optic nerve, eventually leading to blindness.
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Prototype
The condition is often treated with medications that help drain excess fluid from the eye, given in the form of eye drops. But according to bioinformatician Xi Xie from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, and his colleagues, people often struggle to stick to their treatment schedule.
The researchers therefore designed a prototype contact lens device that measures eye pressure and dispenses glaucoma drugs when needed. The outer layer of the lens has six small copper plates arranged in a ring around the pupil. These plates measure the eye deformity caused by an increase in intraocular pressure.
An antenna near the eye then transmits the data to a nearby computer. The inner layer of the lens — which is in contact with the cornea — contains a pressure-lowering drug called brimonidine. This can be released when the lens receives a signal from the computer through the antenna.
Reduced Rabbit Eye Pressure
The researchers tested their lenses on rabbits without glaucoma. They first showed that the device can monitor the eye pressure in the animals, and that it can wirelessly transmit the data to the remote computer. They then used the computer to send a wireless signal to the contact lens to trigger the release of brimonidine.
The eye pressure of the animals was found to have decreased by about a third after thirty minutes and by an average of more than 40 percent after two hours.
‘This technology could revolutionize the lives of millions of patients with glaucoma,’ says biotechnician Ali Yetisen from Imperial College London, which was not involved in the original investigation. “It would be a wonderful addition to the eye doctor’s tools.”
Further studies are needed to assess how well the device works in humans.