Diabetes in the United States is not a rare disease anymore. The definition of diabetes mellitus is the lack of insulin, which causes high glucose in the bloodstream. According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, Diabetes affects 8.3 of the United States’ population. That’s 25.8 million people! People with diabetes mellitus have trouble with keeping their blood glucose levels in the normal range, causing them to have to prick their fingers and take shots of insulin. The question is: how can you help to control your diabetes?
The simplest way to keep your diabetes under control is to check you glucose levels often, and keep a daily log of the readings. But, who wants to prick their finger all day long? Nobody! Therefore, in an article “Google Working on Smart Contact Lens to Monitor Diabetes” posted on January 17, 2014, Google stated that one of their labs is developing a “smart” contact that is able to measure your glucose levels just by using your tears! This means no more finger-pricking if they are successful. The contact lens uses a tiny chip with a glucose sensor that are placed in between two sheets of the normal contact. They have constructed a prototype that can produce a new reading every second. The only part they do not have figured out yet, is how to let the person know if their glucose level is too high or too low. The Google team is looking into LED lights that would flash to let the wearer know. They say that this is only the beginning for this type of technology, and they are not the only ones who are creating something like this. In Europe, a Swiss company called “Sensimed” has already invented a contact lens to measure the pressure of the eyes for the disease glaucoma. Although this contact lens hasn’t been released in the United States yet, Google knows that there is a major want and need for wearable technology such as the glucose measuring contact lens.
This invention will, one day, be a great addition to the diabetes patients’ options. This will impact the whole diabetes community because of the fact that taking your glucose measurement in public will no longer exist, or at least other people won’t know about it or even see it! They won’t have to worry about people staring at them while they prick their finger, and putting their own blood on a strip of paper. Diabetics will feel more comfortable with this invention, I believe, and be able to more accurately regulate their blood glucose levels resulting in a longer and healthier life with less complications. This could also lower the costs to the diabetic community and insurance companies effecting society as a whole.
Citations:
Tweed, Katherine. “Google Working on Smart Contact Lens to Monitor Diabetes.” IEE Spectrum (2014). Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Fact Sheet: national estimates and general information on diabetes and prediabetes in the United States, 2011. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011.
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/