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Contact lenses for continuous corneal temperature monitoring

Contact lenses for continuous corneal temperature monitoring
Contact lenses for continuous corneal temperature monitoring

Temperature variation is a ubiquitous medical sign to monitor ocular conditions including dry eye disease (DED), glaucoma, carotid artery stenosis, diabetic retinopathy, and vascular neuritis. The ability to measure OST in real time is desirable in point-of-care diagnostics. Here, we developed minimally invasive contact lens temperature sensors for continuous monitoring of the corneal temperature. The contact lens sensor consisted of a laser patterned commercial contact lens embedding temperature-sensitive Cholesteric Liquid Crystals (CLCs), which exhibited a fully reversible temperature-dependent color change in the visible spectrum. The contact lens allowed the corneal temperature to be mapped in four key areas, at distances of 0.0, 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0 mm from the pupil's edge. Liquid crystals exhibited a wavelength shift from 738 ± 4 nm to 474 ± 4 nm upon increasing the temperature from 29.0 °C to 40.0 °C, with a time responsivity of 490 ms and a negligible hysteresis. Readouts were performed using a smartphone, which output RGB triplets associated to temperature values. Contact lens sensors based on CLCs were fitted and tested on an ex vivo porcine eye and readouts were compared with infrared thermal measurements, resulting in an average difference of 0.3 °C.

2046-2069
11433-11442
Moreddu, Rosalia
8a5d77bc-dac4-4966-baa3-be26c5eec1ef
Elsherif, Mohamed
7d3a17e1-6eaf-42df-ab35-ce3a97f54622
Butt, Haider
4ffc26d6-273f-4684-a832-662bd055fc54
Vigolo, Daniele
43c6b4f9-285b-47b9-8848-fa15eee7d698
Yetisen, Ali K.
73141f83-3104-470a-bbf5-a7b42d9420a1
Moreddu, Rosalia
8a5d77bc-dac4-4966-baa3-be26c5eec1ef
Elsherif, Mohamed
7d3a17e1-6eaf-42df-ab35-ce3a97f54622
Butt, Haider
4ffc26d6-273f-4684-a832-662bd055fc54
Vigolo, Daniele
43c6b4f9-285b-47b9-8848-fa15eee7d698
Yetisen, Ali K.
73141f83-3104-470a-bbf5-a7b42d9420a1

Moreddu, Rosalia, Elsherif, Mohamed, Butt, Haider, Vigolo, Daniele and Yetisen, Ali K. (2019) Contact lenses for continuous corneal temperature monitoring. RSC Advances, 9 (20), 11433-11442. (doi:10.1039/C9RA00601J).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Temperature variation is a ubiquitous medical sign to monitor ocular conditions including dry eye disease (DED), glaucoma, carotid artery stenosis, diabetic retinopathy, and vascular neuritis. The ability to measure OST in real time is desirable in point-of-care diagnostics. Here, we developed minimally invasive contact lens temperature sensors for continuous monitoring of the corneal temperature. The contact lens sensor consisted of a laser patterned commercial contact lens embedding temperature-sensitive Cholesteric Liquid Crystals (CLCs), which exhibited a fully reversible temperature-dependent color change in the visible spectrum. The contact lens allowed the corneal temperature to be mapped in four key areas, at distances of 0.0, 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0 mm from the pupil's edge. Liquid crystals exhibited a wavelength shift from 738 ± 4 nm to 474 ± 4 nm upon increasing the temperature from 29.0 °C to 40.0 °C, with a time responsivity of 490 ms and a negligible hysteresis. Readouts were performed using a smartphone, which output RGB triplets associated to temperature values. Contact lens sensors based on CLCs were fitted and tested on an ex vivo porcine eye and readouts were compared with infrared thermal measurements, resulting in an average difference of 0.3 °C.

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More information

Published date: 2019
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 503362
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/503362
ISSN: 2046-2069
PURE UUID: 2336de51-d425-4cb8-aa14-ccaf93a165f7
ORCID for Rosalia Moreddu: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0332-1606

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 29 Jul 2025 17:03
Last modified: 30 Jul 2025 02:14

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Contributors

Author: Rosalia Moreddu ORCID iD
Author: Mohamed Elsherif
Author: Haider Butt
Author: Daniele Vigolo
Author: Ali K. Yetisen

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