Testing blood sugar with a contact lens

For diabetics who must endure blood testing to check their glucose levels, a pain-free method may soon be available in the form of a contact lens. Researchers at the University of Houston published results of a study in the journal Advanced Materials. Armed with the knowledge that glucose is present in blood as well as tears, the researchers sought to demonstrate that tear glucose levels correlated with blood glucose levels. The research team then wanted to establish that glucose is a good subject for surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectorscopy, which is a method of optical sensing. A glucose sensing contact lens was then developed to show how effective the Raman scattering spectorscopy is. Despite such technology usually requiring glass or a silicon wafer, the researchers wanted to use something flexible. A layered nanoarray was created on a hard substrate and then removed from that and printed onto a soft contact lens, which will allow for more applications of the technology.*