The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation has built a smart contact lens that monitors glaucoma and automatically delivers drugs when eye pressure climbs too high. No electronics. The lens relies entirely on microfluidics, tiny channels and reservoirs molded into the polymer, that physically respond to pressure changes. When intraocular pressure rises, it compresses drug reservoirs, squeezing medication through microchannels onto the eye surface. A smartphone app photographs a red fluid moving through a sensor channel, and a convolutional neural network reads the pressure level with 94% accuracy. This device fits into the broader landscape of life sciences applications.
Passive Contact Lens Treats Glaucoma Without Electronics
Researchers at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation have developed a smart contact lens with zero electronics that uses microfluidics to monitor glaucoma and automatically deliver drugs when eye pressure climbs. A smartphone app with a convolutional neural network reads pressure levels with 94% accuracy. Testing on rabbits showed effectiveness comparable to eye drops with no biocompatibility issues over 14 days of use.