New Plastics for Artificial Lens and Corneas

There has been much development on hydrophyllic coatings for the hard plastic materials normally used in making artificial eye components. This technology could help the nearly 1.2 million Americans with cataracts(a condition caused by the clouding of protein material in a natural eye lens) who receive artificial lens implants each year. The problem with the current plastics is that they are hydrophobic, so it chafes the living tissue surrounding it. Over time this chaffing can abrade the film of pigment in the iris, which could distort vision and lead to the growth of abnormal tissue that can degrade the eye further. Yet in the development of the hydrophyllic coatings for lenses, Dr. Goldberg has been at the forefront of research and has developed a hydrophyllic urethane material that chemically bonds to the surface of plastic lenses. Allowing the durability and optical properties of the artificial lens to be preserved, but just encasing it in a slippery coating(by binding to water) that keeps tissue from being damaged. In addition, it has been shown that the hydrophyllic coatings seal out microorganisms that can cause infections, and is currently in human testing. This technology is also being used in artificial cornea implants by Dr. Jean Jacob-LaBarre. The reason this is such a needed technology is that performing transplants of natural corneas often leads to rejection, and artificial corneas are very difficult to bond to the eye, because of the extreme shearing forces they encounter from being hydrophobic. Yet Dr. Jacob-LaBarre's new cornea has been approved for patient testing and has an hydrophyllic outer coating and a transparent framework, in which the outer branches are sutured to eye tissue. I found this very interesting, because there are so many people who have cataracts and when a replacement is made, the replacement should be just as good as what it is replacing, and not cause further damage to the eye.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/11/science/doctors-test-new-plastics-for-artificial-lenses-and-corneas.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm