IoT contact lenses

Thanks to the internet of things (IoT), your eyes don't have to be the only data collection processors housed behind your eyelids.

Smart sensors combined with off-the-shelf contact lenses are the latest example of today's technologies augmenting the human experience.

Viewed through a different lens

The 2022 consumer electronics show (CES) showcased Adidas' partnership with MojoVision to launch a smart contact lens. As reported by CNET, the lens houses a processor capable of presenting a head's-up display directly in the line of sight of the wearer. Originally designed to aid the visually imparted, MojoVision's partnership with Adidas will display fitness and health monitoring data.

InWith Corporation aims to take smart contact lenses a step further by focusing on everyday usage. The functionality is designed to beam day-to-day information like the speed limit, weather forecast and more from an otherwise standard contact lens.

Configured for a general usage application, InWith's smart lenses use patented technology that enables computer circuitry to exist within name brand contacts.

Here's how the lenses work:

Smart lenses house a number of sensors designed to project a heads-up display for the user. From an inner ring to individual data processing nodes, the InWith lens is a complex piece of tech disguised as an everyday use application.

Chambers and compartments discreetly situated around the outer circumference of the lens accommodate electronic circuits and miniscule mechanical devices.
Flexible electronic substrates are adhered to the Silicone Hydrogel of a typical contact, and act as conductors for the tech apparatus housed within the lens.
An inner ring changes the dioptric power or focus for the eye automatically.
Finally, sensors affixed to the inner ring of the lens are able to activate the heads-up display elements to the vision scope.

Smarter than ever

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved two smart contact lenses designed to treat very specific ocular conditions: MiSight and transition lenses

The MiSight contact lens is a disposable device designed specifically to slow the progression of myopia (nearsightedness) in children. Myopia occurs when the eye grows too long from front to back, and is the leading cause of correctable vision worldwide.

MiSight works by correcting the refractive error to improve distance in eyes affected by this condition, and can be discarded after single use. Concentric peripheral rings in the lens then focus light in front of the retina, a process that may reduce the stimulus that causes the worsening of myopia.

Transition lenses, without the aid of sunglasses. That's the promise FDA-approved Acuvue Oasys lenses housing Transitions Light Intelligent Technology aim to deliver. Meant to be worn daily, these lenses work to correct both near and hyperopia (farsighted) conditions. By working with individuals who have astigmatism (an abnormal curvature of the eye),  the Oasys lenses are among the first widely-applicable wearable ocular devices in the world.

The lenses contain a photochromic additive that works to adapt the amount of light filtered to the eye, functioning the same way that UV detecting sunglasses do.

Given the advances IoT wearable technologies are making, the future of sensor-containing contact lenses is looking bright.

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