Contact Lens Innovations

Did you ever think that a contact lens would be able to manage diabetes?  Or that there might be a contact lens that could check your eye pressure and managing your glaucoma?  Did you ever think about a contact lens dispensing medication or decreasing myopia?

Contact lenses are a unique device.  They drape over the top of your cornea and are bathed in your tears.  It isn't a wonder that they are a focus of sci-fi, with the idea of pop-up displays, hooked into your I-phone and GPS.  That might be a little far fetched with the current technology, but some of the other innovations are already here, or almost here.

In 2014, Goggle announced that they were developing a contact that uses a wireless chip that would be able to measure blood glucose levels.  With the lengthy process of FDA approval, we haven't seen this come to market quite yet.

We utilize eye drops to treat diseases like Glaucoma.  In 2010, a study found that only about 5% of a drop that you put in the eye actually reaches its destination due to the protective barriers of the eye like the tears and cornea.  Soaking a lens in medication doesn't work well, so researchers are working with nano particles on the lenses to deliver the medication.  

Orthokeratology is a contact lens that you sleep in that changes the shape of your cornea, making it so you don't need glasses.  This is completely reversible and is being utilized to slow the progression of myopia in younger children.

The research and innovation in the world of contact lenses is exciting and that Sci-Fi world may not be too far in the future.