Germ Fighter: Lens coating may keep contacts in eye longer

An experimental antibacterial coating could enable contact wearers to leave lenses in their eyes for as long as 3 months.

BUG OFF. Bacteria thrive on uncoated lens (above) but not on one with a selenium coating (below). M. Grimson/Texas Tech Univ. Health Sciences Center

M. Grimson/Texas Tech Univ. Health Sciences Center

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.