Washington, March 26: Contact lenses laced with Vitamin E that can hold eye-drops for almost 100 times longer, have been developed by American scientists.
The medicated lenses, developed by a team of researchers led by India-born Anuj Chauhan from University of Florida in Gainesville, would help treat various eye-ailments more effectively, researchers claimed.
Speaking at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Fransisco, Chauhan said: “The problem is within about two to five minutes of putting drops in the eye, tears carry the drug away and it doesn’t reach the targeted tissue.”
“Only about one to five per cent of drugs in eye drops actually reach the cornea of the eye,” he said.
Describing the new lenses, Chauhan said: The vitamin E molecules in the lenses form ‘nano-bricks’ like invisible clusters that act as a ‘transport barriers’ and “slow down the elusion of medication from the lens into the eye.”
The drug released from the lens into the eye stays in the tears far longer than the 2-5 minutes with eye drops, leading to more effective therapy, Chauhan said.
The team in laboratory tests on animals observed that the lenses containing vitamin E nanobricks administered drugs up to 100 times longer than most commercial lenses.
Chauhan said, “Vitamin E is a proven nutraceutical that in small amounts is good for the eye because of its anti-oxidant properties. Its presence in the lenses blocks UV radiation leading to increased protection against UV light.”
“Our research has shown that the vitamin can be loaded into the lenses without any reduction in transparency. We believe it could be helpful in disease treatment and in prevention as well,” he said.
The lenses, clinical trials for which would begin in next 2 years, could be designed for continuous wear for up to a month, he added.
—-PTI