by Joel Harrison
26. July 2011 15:36
Numerous ophthalmic diseases are treated with eye drops, which seem to be quite effective, but they also cause several problems. First of all, as Daniel Kohane (an anaesthesiology professor and the Director of the Laboratory for Biomaterials and Drug Delivery at the Children’s Hospital in Boston) suggests, not all of the active ingredients of the eye drops reach their destination, which is exacerbated by the fact that patient compliance (missing doses, irregular administration) is a major problem. What is more, contact lenses wearers often have difficulty taking eye drops, as most of them require removing lenses before their application.
In order to solve these problems, Daniel Kohane is developing a new kind of contact lenses, which will – if his work yields positive results – be able to release medications into the eye without the need to use eye drops.
Experts believe that such lenses will be perfect for the treatment of many chronic diseases, such as glaucoma, which requires regular administration of intraocular-pressure reducing eye drops.
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