According to researchers, are loaded with vitamin E to help more medicine get into the cornea
A team of researchers has created special contact lenses for glaucoma patients that come loaded with vitamin E, thanks to a design that essentially extends the time a medication bathes an affected eye.
The strategy could significantly reduce waste drops traditional medicine, but until now, the concept has only been tested in sniffer dogs.
“Currently, the way we administer the medication in the eye is very bad and ineffective,” said Anuj Chauhan, author of the study and associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “In addition, this method is great because it provides drugs for prolonged periods.”
It is expected that Chauhan and colleagues present the findings Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco.
According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, glaucoma begins as an asymptomatic disease, through the optic nerve damage can eventually cause blindness. The disease accounts for about 9-12 percent of all blindness in the U.S.. UU. The World Health Organization notes that it is the second leading cause of blindness in the world.
There is no cure for the nearly four million who have the disease and, as vision is lost, can not be reset. However, treatments such as drugs and surgery, it will delay or stop the progression of the disease.
It is thought that vitamin E is good for your eyes for its antioxidant capabilities. Several studies have explored the notion that might fight glaucoma when used in conjunction with prescription drugs.
Current research is focused on contact lenses can be worn for up to a month.
The authors note that the study has already revealed that the lenses loaded with vitamin E may prolong the duration of drug delivery over a hundred times, compared to regular commercial lenses. The drug supply in exposed only to the eye drops to between two and five minutes of treatment, they added.
For human trials to test the method missing one or two years, said Chauhan. But he added that, if successful, this method of drug delivery could have several applications, beyond the goal of improving the treatment of glaucoma.
“This could have significant benefits for several million patients, both from a therapeutic point of view, like that of prevention,” he said. “Because not only provide better relief for glaucoma drug, could potentially face more various eye diseases such as cataracts or dry eye. others, you neutroceutic of vitamin E also block the UV light exposure. ”
“But only time will tell what will actually work,” said Chauhan.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alfred Sommer, professor of ophthalmology and dean emeritus of the Bloomberg School of Public Health of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, expressed some reservations about the method.
“A delivery mechanism for essentially bathe the eye in medicine slowly and continuously to address a wide range of diseases ranging from glaucoma to macular degeneration, has been the corner stone of ophthalmology for years,” he said. “Unfortunately, in general, efforts have been successful, although it certainly could do with something.”
“However, because the most effective drops for glaucoma with which today we should be placed once a day, the question is if people would contact lenses if you use them and” asked Sommer . “This is somewhat speculative, especially when strongly recommend to contact lens wearers who do not sleep with lenses. So it is not immediately apparent, at least for me, which would have benefits for glaucoma.”
At the same meeting, it is expected that a research team at Iowa State University report on Wednesday about a new technology that could detect glaucoma before the onset of symptoms in its early stages.
The team, led by Chenxu Yu, assistant professor at Iowa State, said he believes that is about to reach a “breakthrough” in the diagnoses, with the help of infrared laser light through a method known as ” Raman spectroscopy, “which throws a beam of light through the pupil to take a” snapshot “of the retina. Expect this high-tech image might someday be used to identify biochemical signals of glaucoma in its infancy.
Glaucoma and eye drops | Medical Health Care Centre
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