Sensor-Equipped Contact Lens Monitors Glaucoma Symptoms Around the Clock
Glaucoma is a tricky ailment to manage; rather than being a single disease, it's actually a cluster of diseases with various manifestations that, taken as a whole, are the second leading cause of blindness. But medical microtechnology firm Sensimed has engineered a sensor-laden contact lens that glaucoma sufferers can wear around-the-clock, helping doctors not only manage the potentially debilitating disease, but also learn more about how the mysterious condition works. Little is really understood about glaucoma's mechanisms, mostly because they are constantly changing. For instance, one manageable symptom that seems to be linked to the disease's progression is high intraocular pressure, or pressure caused by too much liquid inside the eye. But intraocular pressure changes throughout the day, usually peaking at night when patients are not under doctor's observation. Snapshots of the condition taken during routine doctor visits provide little insight into how the symptoms and diseases are evolving. Sensimed's Triggerfish system...