Noninvasive Continuous Monitoring of Physiological Glucose Using a Monosaccharide-Sensing Contact Lens

We have tested the feasibility of tear glucose sensing using a daily, disposable contact lens embedded with boronic acid-containing fluorophores as a potential alternative to current invasive glucose-monitoring techniques. Our findings show that our approach may, indeed, be suitable for the continuous monitoring of tear glucose levels in the range 50−500 μM, which track blood glucose levels that are ∼5−10-fold higher. We compare the response of the boronic acid probes in the contact lens to solution-based measurements and can conclude that both the pH and polarity within the contact lens need to be considered with respect to choosing/designing and optimizing glucose-sensing probes for contact lenses.