Smart Contact Lenses for Ocular Theranostics

Dr. Dennyson Savariraj

Electromaterials Laboratory, Department of Advanced Components and Materials Engineering, Sunchon National University, South Korea.

In the recent times healthcare has become an important aspect of life and significant economic and research time are devoted for it. Quality life demands healthy living for which continuous monitoring and rapid treatment of diseases is vital.

Continuous monitoring of diagnostic parameters is inevitable for the detection and treatment of several health disorders which is unmet by the conventional techniques. With the advancement of prototype devices and rapid diagnostics, the real time monitoring of the diseases has been made possible. Until recently, contact lenses were considered to be polymer based gadgets worn for vision correction however “there's more to this than meets the eye” in terms of meeting stringent clinical requirements.

The progress in the diagnostic ability of the contact lenses led to improved health care by meeting the clinical requirements and extending medical prognosis. Contact lenses stand out to be a sophisticated platform that offers non/minimally invasive diagnostics and drug delivery.

The complications associated with severe health disorders such as diabetes and intraocular pressure (IOP), demand close monitoring and strict control of blood glucose concentration and IOP. Contact lenses based embedded sensors for clinical purposes are portable, compact and discrete with high-oxygen and water permeability besides being transparent and flexible to be accommodated in to contact lenses .Therefore employing smart lenses for ocular diagnostics can have added advantage for continuous monitoring of IOP and glucose level in tear fluids.

Drug-laden soft contact lenses have gained importance in the recent time since they establish close contact to cornea where the drug is to be administered. So, contact lenses also act as a suitable drug delivery system in addition to be a diagnostic platform.

Key words: SmartContact Lenses; Ocular Theranostics; Continuous monitoring; Diagnostics; Drug delivery; Intraocular pressure (IOP) and Blood glucose

He has going to deliver a lecture on “Smart Contact Lenses for Ocular Theranostics” in UIT webinar series on 15th April 2022 organized by Universal Intellectuals Trust (UIT).

Webinar Registration Link: www.uittrust.in/links