Researchers receive grant to develop color-changing contacts for diabetics
By Donald Melanson 
posted December 23rd 2009 10:16PM
posted December 23rd 2009 10:16PM
Contact lenses that act as a glucose monitoring system for diabetics aren't exactly a new idea, but it looks like a group of researchers from the University of Western Ontario might be a bit closer to making them a reality, as they've now received a $200,000+ grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to further develop the technology. The secret to their contacts are some "extremely small" nanoparticles that are embedded in the hydrogel lenses which, like some similar systems (such as those pictured at right), react to the glucose molecules in tears and cause a chemical reaction that changes the color of the lenses -- thereby informing the wearer when their blood sugar is too low or too high. What's more, the reseachers say the same basic idea could also have a wide range of other applications beyond glucose monitoring -- for instance, being used in food packaging to indicate if the food is spoiled or contaminated.[Thanks, Yuka]
you guys are ignoring the small niche that contains short sighted diabetics...
Can't be more than a few hundred million worldwide
So, when my glucose is high or low, I'll act weird and have weird colored eyes? Medics will love me.
it's only a matter of time before they make them so they could turn red when women are mad at us.
@eruh
Dammit! I was going to say something about them changing color when the girlfriend was about to lose it. Damn password recovery too slow...
Wow !
Nothing serious posted here !
I'm am a computer programmer/scientist and diabetic of 36 years ! This would be a serious improvement !
First, let me just say that meters ares wonderful but utterly expensive ! Consider this...I do 10-15 tests a day. This is 15$ ( 1 $ each) x 365 days ! That's over 5K$ a year. And I would probably do more for an even better blood glucose control.
People would certainly not carry mirrors to look at themselves or ask strangers on the streets. Come on ! This is ridiculous !
Maybe, just wear a pair of glasses that would analyse the color through means of infrared laser and wirelessly control an insulin pump like the one I wear all the time.
This would simply mean more tests a day, an hour or even a minute thus yielding a better control.
Sign me in as a guinea pig !
I recall reading that a newly developed accurate IR meter will be out soon. Will wait for that before chucking the needles... but since I can somewhat control my blood-glucose with thought (not easy), contacts that could morph in relation to what I was thinking might prove kinda cool.
well im a diabetic and i i am 12 years old and in my oppinion i think this would be great. i allways forget to test and when i do i hate it so this would help me out alot more if i had these.and for people that say they dont want people to know they have diabeties well why not it nothin bad and if someone says somethin just walk away and about like not know what color they are and not havin a mirror well almost everyone in this world has a cell phone take a pic and look and see what color they are and if you dont have a phone then there has to be a mirror or someone you know around you i dont think its that hard it sounds a lot easier that havin to take all your stuff out when you go somewhere.so i think there great!!!!
Every diabetic I know (there are five of them) is pretty aware when their blood sugar is out of whack. I think they test their blood so much that they get a good 'feel' for when it's up or down.