Kamis, 24 Mei 2012

Colour changing contact lenses could replace painful skin prick tests for diabetics

Colour changing contact lenses could replace painful skin prick tests for diabetics

By Claire Bates

PUBLISHED: 06:51 EST, 24 May 2012 | UPDATED: 06:51 EST, 24 May 2012

Millions of diabetes sufferers face the daily grind of frequent skin prick tests to monitor their blood sugar levels.

Now researchers have developed an innovative alternative that could reveal the same information in the blink of an eye.

A team from The University of Akron have developed a contact lens that senses glucose which is the blood sugar in tears, the natural fluid that bathes the eye.

This picture from the University of Akron shows a simulation of how the contact lens would work

Eye-opener: This picture from the University of Akron shows a simulation of how the contact lens would work

If sugar is not being metabolised properly and glucose concentration builds up in the body, the contact lens will detect a problem and change colour.

'It works just like pH paper in your high school chemistry lab,' said Dr Jun Hu.

'The sugar molecule literally acts like the proton in a pH test, displacing a colour dye embedded in the lens, and the lens changes colour.'

Usually when you dissolve sugars in water you can't see them. Dr Hu has used a molecule, called a probe, that binds well to sugars that they then combined with a dye. When sugar concentrations rise the sugar binds to the probe and knocks the dye loose, causing a colour change.

The person wearing the lens wouldn't notice the change unless they looked in the mirror, so the team are now designing an app that will calculate sugar levels from a camera phone snap of the eye.

Contact lens

Scientists say the lens could be available in three years

Dr Hu said: 'This device could be used to detect subtle changes in blood sugar levels for tight management of diabetes. It can also be used to identify patients with pre-diabetic conditions, allowing early diagnosis that is crucial for preventing diabetes from advancing.

'The convenience of contact lenses could boost patient compliance to blood sugar testing, as it will reduce discomfort, inconvenience, and even cost.

'In addition, blood sugar also changes rapidly throughout a normal, active day, so a device that can monitor glucose many times in a day will provide diabetic patients with a very powerful tool in combating such a damaging condition.'

The lens is currently at the protot ype phase but scientists say they could be commercially available within three years if all goes well.

The next step will be to check that the dye binds completely to the contact lens and does not leach as this could be dangerous to the eye.


Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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Perhaps the contact lenses could be made to display digits like those crystal based thermometers that work on temperature.

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Firstly, the finger pricks are NOT painful at all. Secondly, these would be no good for us Type 1s; they don't give you numbers, so you can't calculate how much insulin to take. Now move on, there's nothing to see here.

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I'm a diabetic and yes you can wear contacts! You do have to be more careful and make sure to visit the eye doctor and maintain a healthy eye routine but no one ever said I couldn't use them because I'm a diabetic I think it varies by people.

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As a type 1 diabetic I have a simple question- do the contact lenses then tell me my sugar level so I know how much insulin to inject with at meal times!?! I think not this to me sounds like a true waste of money!

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That's not true that diabetics can't wear contact lenses. There is a potential risk if you already have problems with your eyes due to diabetes, and if you do wear contacts you should be extra careful with following instructions regarding how long you use them etc. But there are plenty of diabetics who wear contacts with no problems. Agreed, the pain is not that bad, but when you need to test over ten times a day to manage your diabetes, and your skin gets thicker and thicker it can get harder to test. This can put people off, so anything which can make it easier for a diabetic to control their blood sugar can only be a good thing.

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There is no pain from the finger prick test providing you do it properly. Contact lenses would not be a stride in the right direction. They are far more troublesome than a finger prick test ever could be. Dry eyes, retinopathy to mention just two ailments that us diabetics have to be aware of without this - no thanks

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As a diabetic I can honestly say that I would much prefer a finger prick test than messing about putting contact lenses in every day. I know some people hate testing and its not my favourite pastime but there's just no comparison.

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Contact lenses are worse than a finger prick, get your facts right.

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Skin pricks are NOT painful if you choose your site carefully, not the pad of a finger, to the side, and the same finger every time so the nerves become dead in that location.

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I don't believe this will work as generally older people can't wear contact lens comfortably as eyes become much drier when you get older. Also why hasn't he designed it so that it also detects a drop in blood glucose so that a diabetic person can see from their eye colour that they've got a low blood sugar or people around them can tell them - that would be useful for me as I can't always tell when I'm getting hypo now and that can be very dangerous for me, as it's like being drunk!

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