Nanomedicine in ophthalmology

Nanotechnology involves the creation and use of materials and devices scaled to the size of intracellular structures and molecules. Nanomedicine strives to access properties and behaviors at the molecular level to comprehensively monitor, control, construct, repair, defend, and improve human biological systems at this level. Nanomedicine uses engineered nanodevices and nanostructures that operate in parallel at the single-cell level, performing single-cell medicine to ultimately provide medical benefits. To date, applications of nanotechnology include delivery of drugs, peptides, and genes; biomedical imaging; minimally invasive physiologic monitoring; theranostics; prosthetics (including optogenetics and bionic retina); and cell-based therapy. Challenges to incorporation of nanotechnology in ophthalmology include persistence of nanoparticles, biofouling, and safe manufacturing techniques.