Smart CONTACT LENSES can improve your vision while checking for conditions such as diabetes and stroke by measuring chemicals in tear fluid
- The new contact lens design comes from researchers from the UK, US and China
- It features a mesh sensor that measures light, temperature and glucose levels
- At the same time, the team said it does not harm vision or the ability to blink
- New test functions and wireless antennas may be added in future versions
In addition to improving your vision, a new smart contact lens design can also monitor conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, a study finds.
Researchers from the UK, US and China have developed the lens, which features a mesh sensor layer that can measure levels of light, temperature and even glucose in tears.
The latter is more useful than monitoring diabetes, the team said, with complications from stroke and heart disease closely linked to blood glucose control disorders.
The design, the team said, will not adversely affect the wearer’s vision or ability to blink, and could be modified in the future to facilitate retinal function testing as well.
The lenses can even be equipped with power modules and antennas, potentially allowing the lens to transmit data wirelessly to a computer for analysis.
In addition to improving your vision, a new smart contact lens design can also monitor conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, a study finds (stock image)
Researchers from the UK, US and China developed the lens (pictured left on an artificial eye), which has a mesh sensor layer (shown in yellow, right) that can measure levels of light, temperature and even glucose in tears to monitor for health complications
“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the entire scientific community,” paper author and bioelectronics expert Yunlong Zhao of the University of Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute told the Times.
Many of us, he added, “have wondered how our work could help people suffering from similar future medical emergencies.”
“We believe that devices utilizing our sensor layer system can be used as a non-invasive way to monitor and diagnose human health.”
“Our ultra-thin sensor layer is different from conventional smart contact lenses,” Harvard University author and engineer Shiqi Guo told the Times.
These lens designs typically include “rigid or bulk sensors and circuit chips sandwiched between two contact lens layers and contacting tear fluids through microfluidic sensing channels.”
However, in the new lens design, the serpentine sensor mesh tears instantly – comes with ‘easy mounting, high detection sensitivity, good biocompatibility and mechanical robustness,’ added Dr. Guo adds.
“Other than that, it doesn’t interfere with blinking or seeing,” he said.
The design, the team said, will not adversely affect the wearer’s vision or ability to blink, and could be modified in the future to facilitate retinal function testing as well. Pictured: The serpentine mesh, pictured left, showing the three different sensor modalities and, right, the entire lens itself
The lens is one of many attempts to develop a ‘smart’ contact lens – be it measuring blood glucose levels or in the form of a soft robot that allows the wearer to zoom in by blinking.
One design – from California-based start-up Mojo Vision, and with a UK-built processor – has a small 300-pixel LED display within half a square millimeter that can display content streamed from their phone to the wearer .
“We need to build something that shows you information that doesn’t distract you, helps you, leaves when you don’t need it, and stays off when you don’t want it,” Steve Sinclair, head of the product, told the Times. .
The full findings of the study are published in the journal Matter.