Special Contact Lenses Prevent Dry Eyes Just With The Wearer’s Blinks

While contact lenses are a convenient alternative for those who don’t like wearing glasses outside of the home, they can sometimes be uncomfortable, or cause irritation such as contact lens-induced dry eye (CLIDE). 

This condition, which affects 30% to 50% of contact lens wearers, usually occurs when tears from one’s eye only flow across the front of a contact lens, eventually evaporating and not wetting the part of the eye behind it. 

Scientists have figured out multiple solutions to this problem over the years, from the typical “artificial tears” eyedrops to more wacky ideas such as an electrically-charged contact lens, lubricant from molecules in pig stomachs, and more. 

But what about fixing the contact lens itself? That’s what scientists at California’s Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) set out to achieve, creating a cure that wouldn’t involve any action on the part of the wearer.

The team came up with a redesigned contact lens, featuring a series of micro-channels that runs from a tear-collecting reservoir on the front of the lens to a tear-dispensing on the flip side. 

Arranged in a circular, spiral pattern, each channel will collect tears that form near the center of the lens and distribute the moisture to the edges of the eye, while the middle—where the pupil is—is left clear so as to not affect the wearer’s sight.

Impressively, this entire mechanism doesn’t create any additional work for the user. Rather, it is powered just by the pressure that an eyelid exerts when blinking, requiring no conscious thought process while wearing the lens.

At the moment, the special lens has been tested on a model that simulates a blinking eye, and the researchers are looking to push forward to trials on animals and human volunteers in the near future.

“The inventive methods that our team has employed bring a potential solution for millions of people. It is the hope that we may extend our efforts to bring this solution to fruition,” quipped Ali Khademhosseini, TIBI’s Director and CEO.

[via New Atlas and Terasaki Institute, images via various sources]