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The eye is one of the most complex organs in the human body, containing rich and critical physiological information (e.g., intraocular pressure, corneal temperature, and pH) as well as a library of metabolite biomarkers (e.g., glucose, proteins, and specific ions). Smart contact lenses (SCLs) can serve as a wearable intelligent ocular prosthetic device capable of noninvasive and continuous monitoring of various essential physical/biochemical parameters and drug loading/delivery for the treatment of ocular diseases. Advances in SCL technologies and the growing public interest in personalized health are accelerating SCL research more than ever before. Here, the current status and potential of SCL development through a comprehensive review from fabrication to applications to commercialization are discussed. First, the material, fabrication, and platform designs of the SCLs for the diagnostic and therapeutic applications are discussed. Then, the latest advances in diagnostic and therapeutic SCLs for clinical translation are reviewed. Later, the established techniques for wearable power transfer and wireless data transmission applied to current SCL devices are summarized. An outlook, future opportunities, and challenges for developing next-generation SCL devices are also provided. With the rise in interest of SCL development, this comprehensive and essential review can serve as a new paradigm for the SCL devices., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Exosomes, a form of small extracellular vesicles, play a crucial role in the metastasis of cancers and thus are investigated as potential biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. However, conventional detection methods like immune‐based assay and microRNA analyses are expensive and require tedious pretreatments and lengthy analysis time. Since exosomes related to cancers are reported to exist in tears, a poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) contact lens embedded with antibody‐conjugated signaling microchambers (ACSM‐PCL) capable of detecting tear exosomes is reported. The ACSM‐PCL exhibits high optical transparency and mechanical properties, along with extraordinary biocompatibility and good sensitivity to exosomes. A gold nanoparticle colorimetric assay is employed to visualize captured exosomes. The ACSM‐PCL can detect exosomes in the pH range of 6.5–7.4 (similar to the human tear pH) and have a strong recovery yield in bovine serum albumin solutions. In particular, the ACSM‐PCL can detect exosomes in various solutions, including regular buffer, cell culture media from various cell lines, and human tears. Finally, the ACSM‐PCL can differentiate expression of exosome surface proteins hypothesized as cancer biomarkers. With these encouraging results, this ACSM‐PCL is promised to be the next generation smart contact lens as an easy‐to‐use, rapid, noninvasive monitoring platform of cancer pre‐screening and supportive diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]