More BrandsAs medical technology continues its rapid advance, contact lenses are becoming increasingly versatile medical devices. In addition, they are expected to become a key segment of the fledgling wearable technology market, serving as data displays for personal health or any other type of information. Because these contact lenses will require a power source, EPGL Medical Sciences is hoping that its new power supply technology will speed up the market.
EPGL has announced that its engineers have created the first contact lens power source that is self-perpetuating and does not need external energy such as RF. Located within the lenses, the power source keeps them charged at all times. David Markus, EPGL vice-president of bio-MEMS development, said that the market for contact lenses used as data display is just beginning to take shape and it would represent a natural extension to wearable computing devices such as Google Glass. EPGL plans to license its technology to manufacturers working on data displays for contact lenses, Markus added.
A lot of research is taking place in the contact lenses space, with efforts covering both healthcare and consumer applications. Studies are being conducted into the use of powered contact lenses as displays for real-time health information, which would provide wearers with information about their blood sugar or oxygen levels, heart rate, EKG and various other medical data. In general, powered contact lenses can serve as display panels for any kind of information that a person wants to retrieve from the Internet. Researchers are also studying the potential of powered contact lenses as delivery channels for drugs.
