Treating eye conditions like glaucoma and macular degeneration often involves the use of eye drops: but is that the most effective method for preventing blindness? Researchers in Singapore contend that an eyepatch – laden with microneedles – could be more beneficial to patients than eye drops; the new way of administering drugs to treat eye diseases may be the future.

“This work provides a new strategy for efficient drug delivery into the eye,” Chen Peng, a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, told Digital Trends. “With simple pressing of the eye patch on the eye, the detachable tiny needles can penetrate the ocular surface tissue, and serve as implanted micro-drug-reservoirs. The biphasic drug release kinetics enabled by the double-layered micro-reservoirs largely enhances the therapeutic efficacy.”  

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“Sticking these tiny needles in your eye may help fight blindness”