Glowing CLs offer new hope

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have created a glow-in-the-dark contact lens designed to treat diabetic retinopathy.

The lenses were designed to reduce the metabolic demands of the retina, ‘by giving the rod cells the faintest amount of light to look at while the wearer sleeps’.

‘If we turn metabolism in the retina down, we should be able to prevent some of the damage that occurs,’ said Caltech graduate student Colin Cook.

The lenses are illuminated by tiny vials filled with tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen gas that emits electrons converted into light by a phosphorescent coating, a form of technology used in watches.