Use contact lenses instead of injections for treating eye disease

According to US scientists, using contact lenses to gradually release the drug directly into the eye is a great alternative to eye drops with the advantage of being non-invasive and highly effective.

According to Medical Express, contact lenses can solve the problem of drug delivery to the retina. Typically, injections are needed to treat diseases that affect the retina. But injections cause fear in many patients, interfering with therapy.

Researcher Daniel S. Kohane with contact lenses - (Photo: Katherine C. Kohane)

A new study by the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston (USA) shows that it is possible to use contact lenses to release medicine to the more difficult-to-reach areas of the eye, especially retinal diseases . Currently, most retinal diseases require eye injections and transplants, but have potential side effects, some of which are serious. Moreover, a quarter of patients who received eye medication did not return, due to fear of injection into the eye. Although medicines are effective for these conditions, it is difficult to get them to retinal tissue in a non-invasive way.

The use of contact lenses to secrete dexamethasone (a steroid used to treat eye infections) has the advantage of being convenient and easy to use. Scientists conducted contact lenses on animals with uveitis and macular edema. As it turned out, contact lenses helped release the drug continuously into the retina for a week.

In fact, using contact lenses can achieve concentrations up to 200 times higher than those observed with eye drops once every hour. And in terms of effectiveness, contact lenses are completely equivalent to injections in terms of preventing retinal damage. Currently, scientists are preparing to begin clinical trials.

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