ABSTRACT
Conventional eye treatment formulation such as eye drops has shortcomings including low drug utilization and poor patient compliance. The contact lens(CL), well-known as visual correction lens, is considered to be a more promising ophthalmic drug delivery vehicle owing to its good biocompatibility, long-term wearing comfort, prolonged drug residence time and improved bioavailability. In order to improve the drug loading efficiency and prolong the release time, researchers have developed a variety of strategies to modify traditional CL, including the introduction of vitamin E molecular barrier, application of molecular imprinting technology of CL, increasing interactions between the drug and polymer matrix by introducing special genes, and incorporation of nanocarriers or drug-loaded polymer films. In this paper, the preparation methods and pros and cons of drug-loaded CL are reviewed. At last, the existing problems and future developments of CL as ophthalmic drug delivery carrier are briefly discussed.