1. Biomaterials pulsed with blue light can reshape thinning corneas
Light-activated injectable biomaterials able to change the shape of and thicken a diseased or damaged cornea could herald a plausible alternative to corneal transplantation in the treatment of corneal-thinning disorders.
Corneal diseases are among the most common causes of blindness.
The injectable materials – a mixture of biopolymers and custom-made peptides that assemble into a hydrogel when pulsed with low-energy blue light – were able to change the cornea shape and thicken it to varying degrees in an ex vivo pig cornea model. Intracorneal injection of these materials in rats showed the top two materials, G44 and G50, caused no significant inflammation or neovascularisation and remained stable in vivo for six weeks.
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The College, The Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) and the Federation of Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians (FODO) back the Government’s commitment to put patients in the driving seat and give them more control and choice over their care.
One thing is certain: I wasn’t expecting the events of the last 10 weeks to take place when I wrote my last Optometry in Practice editorial in February this year.