Patent Application
20170319385
The present disclosure relates to the field of eye drop delivery devices, and in particular to an eye drop delivery device that retains and positions a medicament bottle at a preferred location for eye drop delivery.
In general the administration of eye drops from an eye drop bottle to a recipient's eyes is unpleasant. The experience is generally uncomfortable, and there is a strong reflexive action for the recipient to move or otherwise avoid having the drop impact upon the eye surface. This can create issues with medicament delivery, where proper placement of the drop is difficult, and where inaccuracies can arise in the required dosage to be delivered.
It is also sometimes difficult to ensure that the tip of the eye drop bottle dues not inadvertently contact the eyes or eyelashes of the person receiving the eye drops. This can lead to contamination of the medicament solution which can facilitate the persistence of an infection or can facilitate the transfer of an infection from one person to another person.
It would be desirable to provide an eye drop delivery device that permits for greater control over drop delivery at the desired location.
According to an aspect of the disclosure, provided is an eye drop delivery device. The eye drop delivery device comprises a lower periorbital registration portion that is positionable on a recipient's face, and an upper bottle alignment portion that is arranged in spaced-apart relationship from the lower periorbital registration portion. The upper bottle alignment portion being configured to receive an eye drop medicament bottle.
The foregoing and other features and advantages will be apparent from the following description of the disclosure as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, further serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the disclosure. The drawings are not to scale.
Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are now described with reference to the figures, wherein like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements. The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the disclosure or the application and uses of the disclosure. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the following detailed description.
Referring now to
While the width WS of the bottle holding region 38 may be anywhere between the widths WN and WB (i.e. any value that is greater than the width WN and less than the width WB), it is advantageous for the width WS of the bottle holding region 38 to be larger than the width WN of the neck 77 by less than about 2 mm, to help locate the tip 62 of the bottle 64 in a predictable position relative to the eye drop dispensing device 10. Thus, the width WS of the bottle holding region 38 may be between about 13 mm and about 15 mm. Even more advantageously, the width WS of the bottle holding region 38 may be larger than the width WN of the neck 77 by less than about 1 mm to help locate the tip 62 more precisely. Thus, the width WS of the bottle holding region 38 may be between about 13 mm and about 14 mm.
The slot 36 may also include a pair of opposing projections 40, 42 which serve to releasably retain the eye drop bottle 64 within the bottle holding region 38. The projections 40 and 42 have a pass-through width that may be slightly smaller than (e.g. by about 1-2 millimetres) the width WS of the bottle holding region 38.
The lower section 20 is similarly yoke-shaped, and is positionable on a recipient's face. The lower section 20 includes a first lower arm 44 and a second lower arm 46 arranged in spaced-apart relationship, the first and second lower arms 44, 46 being interconnected at a lower bridge 48. The lower section 20 is generally contoured to follow a predefined anatomical profile in the periorbital region of the eye. Accordingly, the lower section 20, in particular the first and second lower arms 44, 46 define a plurality of registration portions positioning the dispensing device 10 upon the recipient. As shown, the first and second lower arms 44, 46 include respective nasal registration portions 50, 52, as well as respective central registration portions 54, 56. The lower bridge 48 of the first and second lower arms 44, 46 define a lateral registration portion 58.
As seen in
The delivery device 10 may additionally include one or more connector segments between the upper section 22 and the lower section 20. As shown, the delivery device 10 is provided with a first connector segment 66 extending from the first end 30 of the upper section 22 to the first lower arm 44 of the lower section 20. Similarly, a second connector segment 68 is provided that extends from the second end 32 of the upper section 22 to the second lower arm 46 of the lower section 20.
As shown in
The upper section 22, and lower section 20, together with the support 60 and first and second connector segments 66, 68 collectively form a one-piece structure. For instance these components may be formed using any suitable molding process, including but not limited to injection molding. As shown, the dispensing device 10 has been designed to be devoid of undercuts or other features that would otherwise impede the direct removal of the molded product from the molding environment. As undercuts generally require a complex arrangement of mold slides or displaceable cores, the overall cost of manufacture can quickly escalate. Instead, with the absence of undercuts in the dispensing device 10, manufacturing costs associated with complex mold tooling can be minimized. Although the design is well suited for one-piece manufacturing, in some embodiments, the delivery device may be formed from discrete interconnected components.
The delivery device 10 may be wholly or partly made of a substantially rigid material such as a rigid polymer. As a non-limiting example, a suitable rigid polymer for the delivery device would be polypropylene. Suitable materials may also include those which resist microbial contamination, and permit for cleaning via dishwasher and/or sterilization techniques. Where injection molded, the delivery device is suitable for manufacture without the use of mold slides.
The delivery device 10 may be provided in a range of sizes to suite a range of anatomical profiles, generally in relation to age of the recipient. In other embodiments, the delivery device 10 may be custom made to suit the anatomical profile of a particular recipient, for example by constructing the delivery device 10 based on three-dimensional (3-D) topographical scans taken of the recipient's facial anatomy. Delivery devices personalized in this way may be formed using additive manufacturing techniques, such as 3-D printing.
The delivery device 10 may be provided in kit form with the required medicament provided in the eye drop bottle. To permit for effective and compact packaging, the delivery device may be mounted on the eye drop bottle 64 in a packaged position, as shown in
To assemble, the neck (shown at 77) of the eye drop bottle 64 is aligned to the slot 36 provided between the first upper arm 24 and the second upper arm 26 (see
Once the eye drop bottle 64 is securely mounted on the delivery device 10, the recipient tips their head back (e.g. by lying down) so that their face 70 faces upwards. The delivery device 10 is placed on the face 70 of the recipient in the periorbital area. In the embodiment shown, this placement would involve engaging the lower section 20 upon the at least 2 registration features on the recipient's face. While the delivery device 10 is being positioned on the face 70 of the recipient, the eyes 74 of the recipient may be closed. Thus, the delivery device 10 may be positioned on the face 70 of the recipient by another person. After the delivery device is suitably positioned, the eye drop bottle 64 is squeezed to release a select number of eye drops. The delivery device 10 may be removed after the eye drops have been administered, and the recipient can open the treated eye 74. Opening the eye 74 permits the eye drops that have accumulated at the inner corner 72 to enter the eye 74. It will be noted that such a technique permits the recipient to receive eye drops comfortably, without the need for the eye drops to be dropped into the recipient's eyes from some height onto the recipient's cornea, as has been done in the past in an attempt to avoid contact of the eye drop bottle with the recipient's eye.
It will be appreciated that while the eye drop bottle 64 is designed to position against the radiused wall 38 of the upper section 22, the configuration of the slot 36 between the first and second upper arms 24, 26 permits for a range of positions, for example if it were necessary to bring the tip 62 of the eye drop bottle 64 further laterally inwards (towards the nose). While a single pair of projections 40, 42 are provided in the embodiment shown, in other embodiments, additional pairs of projections may be provided to provide additional set positions of the eye drop bottle 64 upon the delivery device 10.
Having regard to the figures, it will be appreciated that the delivery device 10 is symmetrical through axis Ax (see
While various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented only as illustrations and examples of the present disclosure, and not by way of limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the appended claims and their equivalents. It will also be understood that each feature of each embodiment discussed herein, and of each reference cited herein, can be used in combination with the features of any other embodiment. All patents and publications discussed herein are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/331,074 filed May 3, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62331074 | May 2016 | US |
