{"id":589815,"date":"2026-05-18T02:10:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/589815\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T02:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:10:56","slug":"contact-lenses-may-be-as-effective-as-prozac-to-treat-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/589815\/","title":{"rendered":"Contact lenses may be as effective as Prozac to treat depression"},"content":{"rendered":"

An insightful new technology has been developed for treating depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While millions of adults<\/a> in the US use antidepressants like Prozac, the side effects \u2014 like weight gain or sexual dysfunction \u2014 can make the medications an uncomfortable option.<\/p>\n

However, a new, drug-free treatment delivered eye-opening results that were as effective as one of the most commonly prescribed pills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AWhile antidepressants like Prozac are a first-line treatment for depression, they can come with a slew of side effects. pressmaster \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors<\/a> (SSRIs) like Prozac block the brain from absorbing serotonin to stabilize mood, but can also dull emotions and result in difficult withdrawal symptoms for some.<\/p>\n

This prompted researchers<\/a> to develop a less invasive method involving transparent contact lenses that used built-in electrodes to deliver mild electrical signals to brain regions associated with depression and mood.<\/p>\n

This particular treatment showed improvements in mood and behavior comparable to Prozac when used on mice for 30 minutes per day for three weeks.<\/p>\n

The findings, written up in the journal\u00a0Cell Reports Physical Science, looked at a method called temporal interference to stimulate the brain.<\/p>\n

This delivers two electrical signals to the retina that only become active when they intersect deep inside the eye, meaning the treatment only targets specific regions of the brain.<\/p>\n

Senior author Jang-Ung Park of Yonsei University compared this to two flashlights.<\/p>\n

\"AContact lenses that deliver electrical signals to the brain were as effective in treating depression in mice as fluoxetine. The Len \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\u201cEach beam alone is dim, but where they overlap, a bright spot appears, and that bright spot can be created far away from the flashlights themselves,\u201d Park said in a press release<\/a>. \u201cOur contact lens does the same with two harmless electrical signals.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order for the lenses to be transparent and flexible, the team built electrodes from ultrathin layers of platinum and gallium oxide (a material with electrical conductivity).<\/p>\n

The lenses were then tested between four groups of mice: those receiving temporal interference, those getting fluoxetine (the active ingredient in Prozac), depressed mice who received no treatment and a non-depressed control group.<\/p>\n

All signs of depression measured by behavior, electrophysiological brain recordings and blood and brain biomarkers were reduced with the contact lenses.<\/p>\n

In particular, the treatment reduced levels of inflammatory molecules in the brain, lowered blood corticosterone (equivalent to cortisol in humans) by 48% and increased serotonin by 47%.<\/p>\n

Connectivity between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, which is lost due to depression, was also restored, as seen in recordings of brain activity.<\/p>\n

The lenses were so effective that a machine learning model asked to group the mice based on their behavior, brain activity and biomarker levels consistently grouped the contact lens treatment group with the non-depressed control mice group.<\/p>\n

The next step for the team is to take the technology through rigorous testing and evaluations, as well as modifications to adapt the treatment for humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext, we plan to make the lens fully wireless, test it for long-term safety in larger animals and personalize the stimulation for each user before advancing into clinical trials in patients,\u201d said Park.<\/p>\n

And researchers hope the innovative method can be applied to multiple conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe this wearable, drug-free approach holds tremendous promise for transforming how depression and other brain conditions are treated, including anxiety, drug addiction and cognitive decline,\u201d Park said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An insightful new technology has been developed for treating depression. While millions of adults in the US use…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[201776,3275,102,6591,6928,547,11038,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-589815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-contact-lenses","tag-depression","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-mental-illness","tag-research","tag-study-says","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}