Biocompatible soft hydrogel lens as topical implants for diabetic retinopathy

[Display omitted] •Hydrogel based lens implants can be effective non-invasive ocular drug deliverables.•It exhibit remarkable properties such as light transmissivity (89%) UV–visible spectroscopy and biocompatibility (>99%) in mammalian cells which is desirable for retinal delivery in retinopathy mice models.•The pre-clinical application of hydrogel implants are validated using state-of-art OCT-SLO-OCTA imaging modal.•A potential OCT imaging assisted retinal drug delivery using hydrogel lens for DR therapy. Fashioned contact lenses can be converted into novel drug delivery vehicles. Ocular disease like diabetic retinopathy is a major microvascular complication that mainly affects retina. Delivery of pharmaceuticals to retina is always challenging. Commercial contact lens can be replaced with drug loaded hydrogels as topical intraocular implants. Such hydrogel lens can be developed in precise method and used as implants in mice models. The work demonstrated the preliminary investigations using optical imaging modality where the hydrogel lens can be used as payload carrier for retinopathy. as non-invasive implants applicable for mice models.