Wireless Smart Lenses used to detect Diabetes

Writer: Riya Kathpalia

Diabetes is a disease in which one’s body is unable to produce or respond to the hormone glucose, resulting in elevated levels of glucose in the blood. Despite the extensive scientific knowledge, technology, and modern medicine scientists currently apply to diabetes, it is still an incurable disease. Once a person develops diabetes, they’re obligated to monitor their insulin levels, continuously take shots, and prick their fingers for the rest of their lives! If left undiagnosed for a long period of time, diabetes can lead to devastating complications, such as heart disease, kidney failure, and eye damage -- just to name a few.

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the complications associated with diabetes when left untreated. The risk of this disease increases with age, similar to the complications of undiagnosed diabetes. This complication is a result of changes in one’s blood glucose levels, which can cause damage to blood vessels in the retina. These blood vessels will leak abnormally and accumulate fluid in the macula, which can ultimately result in another catastrophic complication, macular oedema. When macular oedema is left treated, it can cause permanent vision loss. However, cases like this are rare.

Given all of these medical complications, what if there was a more convenient way for diabetics to monitor their glucose levels? Recently, Professor Sei Kwang Hahn and his research team at Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea have developed a potential cure for diabetes -- a wireless smart contact lense that will help diagnose and treat diabetes by “controlling drug delivery with electrical signals.”¹The wireless, smart contact lenses could not have been successful without the usage of biocompatible polymers, which can be used to substitute any organ or tissue of the body, the integration of biosensors, and the data communication system. Hahn and his research team also included a photodetector and antennas into the contact lenses, allowing for the measurement of the concentration of glucose in one’s conjunctival blood vessels by analyzing NIR (near-infrared light), and to read sensor information respectively². These lenses were tested on rabbits diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, and noticed a “significant reduction in retinal angiogenesis,” leading them to the conclusion that these smart contact lenses can be used to treat diabetic retinopathy.

These contact lenses are so beneficial! Not only will it allow diabetic patients to monitor their blood glucose levels, but it will also enable treatment for diabetic retinopathy. This new technological device can even maintain one’s eye temperature without abruptly heating and is even comfortable to wear due to its highly stretchable and transparent materials. Wouldn’t it be amazing to treat diabetes pain-free, with just a blink of the eye?

Sources

1 Smart Contact Lenses That Diagnose and Treat Diabetes, (ScienceDaily, 2020).

2 Smart Contact Lenses Successfully Detect Glucose Levels, (Mike Watts, 2020).