Specialized Smart Soft Contact Lenses can Address Global Issue of Glaucoma Diagnosis, Management
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Specialized Smart Soft Contact Lenses can Address Global Issue of Glaucoma Diagnosis, Management
Purdue University biomedical engineer Chi Hwan Lee, PhD, led a research team that developed new ocular technology to continuously monitor patients’ IOP readings more comfortably and accurately, which could serve as another option for eye specialists to identify glaucoma.
The new technology is highlighted in a study published in the journal Nature Communications. The study compares Purdue’s technology to the current gold standard and other home monitoring systems and examines how the Purdue technology can gather important IOP measurements for 24-hour cycles, even during sleep. The technology was developed by a multidisciplinary group of engineers and health care researchers from Purdue’s colleges of Engineering and Veterinary Medicine and the Indiana University School of Optometry.
Pete Kollbaum, OD, PhD, professor and associate dean for research with the Indiana University School of Optometry and director of the school’s Borish Center for Ophthalmic Research, has worked with Dr. Lee since 2019. Dr. Kollbaum’s Clinical Optics Research Lab group helped with the human clinical testing and provided feedback for design improvements.
Dr. Kollbaum said that not only do the specialized contact lenses provide crisp vision, just as any contact lens would, but the technology also expands the benefits for both patients and eye specialists, who have wanted less expensive and more comfortable ways to monitor eye changes for years. In addition to Drs. Lee and Kollbaum, members of the research team were Shin Ae Park, Seul Ah Lee, Bryan W. Boudouris, Yumin Dai, Keely E. Harris, Bongjoong Kim, Ho Joong Kim, Kyunghun Kim, Hyowon (Hugh) Lee, Kangying Liu, Haesoo Moon, Woohyun Park, Jay V. Shah and Jinyuan Zhang from Purdue; Dawn Meyer, OD, from the Indiana University School of Optometry; and Pedro Irazoqui and Brett Collar from Johns Hopkins University.
