As Sony, Samsung and Google elbow their way into the smart contact lenses arena, Google is already setting its sights in a new direction: an electronic device that would be implanted in your eye.
Google’s patent application, filed in 2014, and published last week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is for an intraocular device with an electronic lens that can connect to wireless devices, take photos and automatically adjust the eye’s focus. The device has the potential to correct eyesight.
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This device, which would replace the eye’s natural lens, would be injected with a solution that congeals and attaches to the lens capsule.
The patent application claims, “The device can be installed within a flexible polymeric material shaped to conform to the inside surface of a lens capsule of an eye.” It could be controlled in such a way where the “device and polymeric material can restore a degree of accommodation to the eye.”
So, what are the implications for patients if Google’s patent application turns into reality?
Dr. Jeffrey Sonsino, chair-elect of the contact lens and cornea section of the American Optometric Association, was skeptical that the device would actually be on the market any time soon.
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“A patent is one thing, but actually getting it to work and running through the steps to bring it to market is entirely something else. It’s fun to dream about ideas like this. Actually getting it to happen is the real challenge,” Sonsino said.
Emphasizing that the expense and technology involved are among the major hurdles in bringing a new surgical technique or device to market, Sonsino said, “We want to make sure if we implant something in the eye, that it’s safe and effective for patients, and not just a tech entrepreneur’s dream.”
If Google is able to overcome these hurdles, Sonsino said the device would revolutionize the eye care industry. “What’s in their patent is the Holy Grail for patients over 40 years old,” said Sonsino, an optometrist in Nashville, Tennessee.
Sonsino explained:
The purpose of patent was to try to advance accommodation, which is focusing at a close distance in people who may have lost that ability. The only people who have lost that ability are over the age of 40. The technology does not appear to be a sight restoring process. It appears to be a neat idea to allow people to focus without the need for glasses or contact lenses.
Dr. John Sutphin Jr., chair of the ophthalmology department at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, said Google’s patent idea is ambitious, but he added, “If successful, it would require intraocular surgery on every recipient — potentially supplanting all current intraocular lenses.”
Sutphin noted that there are many unknowns, including, how or whether power would have to be regenerated or replaced over time, how difficult and how much risk is involved in the surgery and subsequent laser steps.
Meanwhile, Discover blogger Jeremy Hsu was optimistic about the implant’s tech potential. “The implant could wirelessly send data to a smartphone, tablet or laptop that has an Internet connection. Such devices could then pass on the data to an optometrist’s office or a clinic,” Hsu wrote.
“In response, an optometrist or another medical expert could potentially send signals with commands to change the programming that controls the electronic lens vision. That might represent the equivalent of a wireless update for corrective lens prescriptions.” added Hsu.
Image: Google patent application