Google smart contact lens to measure sugar levels?

Google is reportedly developing a smart contact lens that will measure a wearer's glucose levels by testing their tears.

Google-Novartis-smart-lens-Photo-AFP

Google is reportedly developing a smart contact lens that will measure a wearer's glucose levels by testing their tears.

In a patent application, Google showed off potential designs for how it could package a smart contact lens.

Google has previously said it is speaking to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about potentially testing its lens, and that general availability of the contact lens is most likely at least five years away, Quartz.com reported.

The lens the company announced it is working on would be able to gauge a wearer's glucose levels by just analysing tears.

This could potentially remove the need for diabetics to prick their fingers and draw blood to check their blood-sugar levels.

In response to a query whether the company was preparing to make its contact lens more generally available, a representative for Google was reported as saying by Quartz that product releases cannot be inferred from patent applications.

Google has so far been awarded 44 patents involving contact lenses, and has another 53 patents that it has applied for, which seems to suggest that work on the lens is certainly on.