Diabetes is a long-term chronic disease with many complications, requiring lifelong care. The longer a patient has diabetes, the higher the risk of retinopathy (retinal disease), which may gradually lead to decreased vision or even blindness. Led by Professor SEI Kwang Hahn and doctoral student Geon Hui Lee (Department of materials science and Engineering), the research team of POSCO University of Technology (POSTECH) in Korea, in cooperation with Dr. sangbaie shin of phi Biomed, recently developed an intelligent contact lens wearable device**
It is reported that the device can prevent diabetes retinopathy by irradiating 120 µ w far red light /led light to the retina and treat it in its early stage. This intelligent LED contact lens technology has attracted great attention in various ophthalmic diseases.
At present, the treatment methods for diabetes retinopathy are highly invasive and repeated therapeutic injections to the eyeball, or thousands of small cauterization by destroying the capillaries near the edge of the retina with laser under anesthesia. Both methods are considered to be very painful for patients.
Through the research on the animal model of diabetes, the researchers confirmed that the animals wearing smart contact lenses did not have diabetes retinopathy. They wore contact lenses three times a week for 15 minutes each time for a total of 8 weeks. In contrast, animals without smart contact lenses developed retinopathy. Histological analysis of cornea and retina also confirmed the safety and effectiveness of the lens.
Professor SEI Kwang Han, who led the study, said: "this study It proves the feasibility of lens wearable device. It can not only be used to monitor blood oxygen saturation, heart beat rate and ophthalmic diseases, but also be used to treat depression, insomnia, neuronal diseases and so on. "