The lenses that monitor your health. ~ DepoTech

The eye, thanks to these smart lenses, will not reflect your soul, but also your health. After contact lenses designed to monitor a possible glaucoma, a new lens to measure the level of sugar in the blood or to display information and possibly impersonate the man (or woman) that was worth 3 billion.

Lens Sensimed Triggerfish- glaucoma detection

In September Sensimed, a Swiss structure of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, launched a commercial objective, contact chip, designed to improve the treatment of people with glaucoma. This lens contains a highly sensitive detector in platinum, capable of recording the changes in the curvature of the cornea caused by glaucoma. This disease which adds pressure on the optic nerve by an accumulation of fluid, damaging irreversibly vision. Each disposable contact lens is designed to be worn only once during 24 hours, and the patient repeats the process once or twice a year. This allows researchers to compare the intraocular pressure spikes, which vary from patient to patient during a day. This information is then used to plan the schedule of drug taking.

The last type of lens chip, developed by the University of Washington works by determining the levels of glucose in the tear fluid directly corresponding to those found in the blood, which makes possible the continuous measurement without the need for bites thumb, according to its creator Babak Parviz of the University of Washington. Information obtained its transmitted wirelessly to a portable device worn by diabetics, allowing them to manage their diet and their drugs more accurately. These super sensitive electrodes with a chip that contains a radio frequency antenna, are fabricated on a flat substrate made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a transparent polymer commonly found in plastic bottles.

These lenses could also map images directly to the field of vision for the ultimate experience in augmented reality: the information that currently appear on some electronic devices such as our cell, for superimposing images on our environment, helpful information or games without glasses or helmet. To produce such lenses, the researchers developed a material tolerable by the eye, thanks to microelectronics, including both red and blue LEDs for a 3D image display in green on the eye without interfering with the image background. This prototype is still in the testing phase, but could quickly emerge, according to Parviz.