A new device for measuring sugar - the contact lens changes color according to the blood sugar level
In the not too distant future it is possible that checking the sugar level in the body of a diabetic patient will only require looking in the mirror. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are developing a contact lens equipped with a sensor that measures the level of glucose in the tears of the person wearing the lens. "If the development is successful, it will revolutionize the monitoring of patients' sugar levels," said Prof. Sanford Asher of the University of Pittsburgh, who heads the development team of the lens.
For years, the medical community has tried to find painless ways for diabetics to monitor their blood sugar levels. Today, many diabetics have to prick their fingers several times a day, and doctors claim that even the most patient patients check themselves too few times. Because so many patients claim that the need for a needle is a major nuisance, there is a large market for non-invasive glucose testing products. The ongoing research on the subject resulted, for example, in the development of "GlucoWatch, a device that looks like a wristwatch and checks the blood sugar level using electric currents."
The CIBA Vision company is also working on the development of contact lenses that will allow monitoring the blood sugar level. In this case it is a lens that, when a light beam is projected onto it, changes its color according to the sugar level. "We are also doing a small study to see if it is possible to measure the level of glucose in tears," added the company's spokeswoman, Kristi Madera.
"The development of the lenses will take time, and of course we will have to compare their effectiveness with the effectiveness of the existing methods for measuring the sugar level, but there is no doubt that there is a need for non-invasive devices," said Dr. Nathaniel Clark, vice president of clinical research for the American Diabetes Association. According to Rich Red Calderon from the Joslin Center for Diabetes Research in Boston, at the center clinical trials are done with an experimental lens from "Duluth", A subsidiary of CIBA and preliminary results show that diabetics can use the lens as easily as non-diabetic people.
The lens, which is under development at the University of Pittsburgh, will be on the market in three years at the earliest. Prof. Asher and Prof. David Feingold, a pediatric specialist, intend to install their sensor inside the lens. The patients will be able to check the sugar level when they look in the mirror and compare the color of the sensing material (the material in the sensor that reacts to the sugar level) to a color chart that they will have. According to Asher, the research team has already developed the sensing material that should be integrated into the lens, and the University of Pittsburgh has issued a patent for it.
The table of colors according to which the different sugar levels will be determined has not yet been finalized, but it was agreed that green color represented a normal sugar level, red - a very low sugar level, and purple - a very high level. "Diabetes can dramatically improve blood sugar control, with insulin or exercise. But to do that, they have to know their blood sugar," Feingold said.
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interesting