Google Making a Smart Contact Lens that Monitors Glucose Levels for Diabetics
Google has announced that their smart contact lenses will monitor the blood glucose levels of diabetics, helping in managing the disease. In a press release, Google said that the lens is designed to measure the glucose levels in tears continuously using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor.
The potential benefit of Google's new contact lens for many diabetics is that it would erase the toil of finger pricking to measure the glucose levels, not to mention it would enable people to check their glucose levels more often.
The smart contact lens measures the blood glucose level in every second by examining the wearer's tears. Google is also trying to find a way to have the lens warn the wearer by incorporating tiny LED lights which could light up to indicate that the blood glucose levels have crossed above or below the certain threshold.
The measurements of the electronics inside the lens is innovative. The chips and sensors are so small that they look like bits of glitter whereas the wireless antenna is thinner than a human hair, and all of it is embedded between the two layers of the soft contact lens material.
Inquisitr says about the new smart lens, "Google are currently running clinical research studies on the device, while they are also testing it profusely too. Despite the fact that it isn't ready for mass production just yet, they have begun discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over its distribution."
According to Fox news, University of North Carolina Diabetes researcher Dr. John Buse said about Google's new contact lens: "This has the potential to be a real game changer".
The team at Google made their wireless chips in the Google X lab and has used the cutting-edge technology to integrate the circuits and glucose sensor into such a small space in the lens.
Google warned that there are still many things that need to be done before marketing the product but, when it does finally hit the market, it could be an excellent device to measure the glucose levels for diabetes patients. Only question is: at what price?