Pressure-detecting eye sensor offers glaucoma monitoring benefits

A new sensor device that detects hard-to-observe pressure changes in the eye could open the door for better treatment of glaucoma in future.

University of Washington engineers have created a low-power device that can be embedded with an artificial lens and placed permanently in a person's eye during cataract surgery, allowing pressure changes to be identified instantaneously.

This data can then be sent wirelessly using radio frequency waves, facilitating the management of glaucoma, a group of diseases that damage the optic nerve and can cause blindness.

Currently, patients have no choice but to visit their ophthalmologists in order to have their eye pressure checked, meaning they can only have their condition seen to a few times a year. This convenient new option could allow patients and doctors to view data on a handheld device or smartphone.

Karl Boehringer, a University of Washington professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering, said: "I think if the cost is reasonable and if the new device offers information that's not measurable by current technology, patients and surgeons would be really eager to adopt it."

In England, about 480,000 people have chronic open-angle glaucoma, with the risk of contracting the disease varying between different ethnic groups.