An Innovative Means of Monitoring Glaucoma

Pressure-Sensing Contact Lenses A tiny electrical circuit built into contact lenses may provide 24-hour monitoring for glaucoma. is a Technology Review article that should be of interest to those afflicted with glaucoma. Quoting the article:

Currently, the only way for patients with glaucoma to keep tabs on the disease is to go to the doctor's office. There, a clinician administers one of several tests to measure glaucoma's main risk factor, intraocular pressure (IOP), and prescribes medication accordingly. But such visits normally occur two or three times a year, and there's no take-home monitoring device for patients who may experience pressure spikes between visits.

Now scientists at the University of California, Davis, have designed a contact-lens prototype with a built-in pressure sensor, using a novel process that etches tiny electrical circuits within a soft polymer material. The lens's designer, Tingrui Pan, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, says that the design may eventually be fashioned into disposable contact lenses, enabling patients to continuously monitor glaucoma at home.

In glaucoma, drainage of the fluid that normally delivers nutrients to and removes metabolic waste from the eye is blocked. Elevated pressure in the eye ultimately presses on the retina, compromising neural activity and damaging the optic nerve, resulting in loss of vision. Doctors manage glaucoma by measuring patients' IOP and prescribing drugs to lower it.

"It's very different from situations like cardiac disease or diabetes, where patients can wear devices that measure heart rate or blood pressure 24 hours a day for a week or more to get a better idea of what's going on," says James Brandt, a professor of ophthalmology at UC Davis and Pan's collaborator. "We don't have that for glaucoma, and that's one of the biggest clinical frustrations we have."

The article discusses an endeavor whose success would make it possible to continually monitor pressure within the eyes, thereby keeping tabs on glaucoma. The lenses are not yet ready for useage. When they are a new and promising diagnostic tool will become available.