An experimental antibacterial coating could enable contact wearers to leave lenses in their eyes for as long as 3 months.
The new coating contains selenium, an element that produces chemical groups called superoxide radicals that kill bacteria, says Ted Reid of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, who presented the findings in Boston on Aug. 21 at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. Bacterial growth on contact lenses can limit wearing time and cause infection, which in severe cases leads to blindness.