1 of 100 people in the WHOLE world is affected by glaucoma and it’s the second

leading cause of blindness worldwide. it is an optic neuropathy disease which characterized

by the increased of intraocular pressure which can be very DANGEROUS because it can lead
to permanent eye damage. The mainstay therapy of glaucoma are topical medications to
reduce IOP, one of them is Latanoprost. BUT, it can only be administered by eye drop. The
eye drop isn’t very reliable because ONLY 1-7% of the medication is absorbed to the eye and
the administration itself can be inconvient for patients. In the last few years, contact lenses
has been being studied as alternative drug delivery system. In this occasion, we would like
to present our literature review about Contact lenses which are combined with latanoprost
and poly-lactic-co-glycolic-acid or PLGA as a novel treatment of glaucoma.

We searched the following literature from several journal database, such as

PubMed, PMC< Sciencedirect and so on with carrying out the keywords” “glaucoma”,
“Contact lens”, “PLGA”, and “Latanoprost”.

Firstly, we would like to explain about how latanoprost-eluting contact lens is made.
600 µL latanoprost and 60 mg PLGA are added to 600 µL ethyl acetate. It is pipetted into dry
polymerized methalfilcon and rotated in spin coated for 6 minutes. A total of 30 ml of the
combined solution was then pipetted onto a concavity that had been lathed into a cylinder
of dry polymerized methafilcon. After rotation on a spin coater for 6 minutes, the ethyl
acetate evaporated and only a drug-polymer film remained. A central aperture was cut from
the film. After desiccation for 1 day and lyophilization for 1 day, the drug-polymer film was
encapsulated in methafilcon by ultraviolet otopolymerization to recreate a hydrogel
cylinder. The new methafilcon block was then lathed into a contact lens that consisted of
the drug-PLGA film fully encapsulated in first methafilcon. To remove any surface excipients,
the contact lenses were placed in 5 ml sterile PBS solution and rotated at approximately 64
rpm at 37oC for 2 hours. The lenses were removed from PBS, dried at room temperature,
and terminally sterilized by irradiation in a Gamma Cell 220E Cobalt 60 Irradiation Unit with
a total dose administration of 25 kGy.
Then the next question is how does it work? When it is placed on the eye, the PLGA
is dissolved in aqueous layer. The latanoprost inside, will be gradually secreted and
absorbed to the cornea. Latanoprost will be transformed into active form as latanoprost
acid by esterase in cornea. It will increase scleral’s permeability by reducing collagen I, III, IV,
fibronectin, laminin, hyaluronan and upregulating metalloproteinase 2 and 3, uveoscleral
outflow will increase and the IOP will decrease.
Figure 1 Concentration of Latanoprost in aqueous humor after topical application of
a drop of latanoprost solution (50 mg/mL). Figure 2 Concentrations of latanoprost in
aqueous humor in rabbits wearing latanoprost-eluting contact lenses (CL). A. Latanoprost
concentrations from CLs without pre-conditioning. B. Latanoprost concentrations from
CL85:15, 45 with and without pre-conditioning for 1 or 3 days
The treatment of glaucoma is used to topical medications (drops) for reducing
intraocular pressure (IOP). But, there are some difficulties to administer eye drops and its
notoriously poor adherence. Contact lens which contains latanoprost is designed to elute a
glaucoma medication. Using the latanoprost as the first line of glaucoma and encapsulated
by PLGA in contact lens has a result that shows higher IOP reduction in monkeys which uses
the contact lens.