A team of researchers has developed an eye implant that could let patients with glaucoma use their smartphones to see.
There are 2.2 million people suffering from glaucoma, and the only treatment for the ocular disorder right now is for patients to have their internal optic pressure (IOP) checked every week, according to Stanford University News. The implant gives patients the opportunity to check their eye pressure at home while providing doctors a potential new treatment for the condition.
IOP involves the patient losing specific retina cells and their optic nerve fiber degrading, and is the greatest risk factor associated with glaucoma.
A patient's IOP needs to be checked regularly by a doctor, but if the pressure gets too high, then it must be lowered in order to prevent damage from being done to the patient's vision, Gizmodo reported. The pressure can also change quickly, which means it could possibly increase to dangerous levels between checks.
As a result of a collaboration between Stanford University's Prof. Stephen Quake and ophthalmologist Yossi Mandel of Bar-Ilan University in Israel, the eye implant comes with a small tube with one end that is open and another that is covered with a gas-filled bulb. Intraocular fluid is pushed into the tube when the user's IOP rises, and the gas pushes back against the fluid, creating a barrier in the tube. The barrier can be seen from outside the tube.
Patients could use a smartphone camera and an app to read the IPO level based on where the barrier is located within the sensing channel, Gizmodo reported.
The implant will also not cause any harm to the user's vision, with the researchers saying that device caused almost no optical distortion when put in the same vision test used by the U.S. Air Force, Stanford University News reported.
The research team said that before the device can be tested in humans, they have to add materials to the implant that will increase its life in the human eye. They added that they will be able to make the improvements because of the simple design of the implant.
Mandel and Quake are looking to begin trials for the device within a few years, Gizmodo reported.
The research on the implant was published recently in the journal Nature Medicine.
