Woohyun Park^1†, Van Phuc Nguyen^2†, Yale Jeon^3†, Bongjoong Kim^4,5, Yanxiu Li², Jonghun Yi³, Hyungjun Kim^4,6, Jung Woo Leem⁴, Young L. Kim⁴, Dong Rip Kim^3*, Yannis M. Paulus^2,7*, Chi Hwan Lee^1,4,8,9*

¹School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. ²Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA. ³School of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea. ⁴Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. ⁵Department of Mechanical and System Design Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea. ⁶Department of Applied Chemistry, Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Gumi, Gyeongbuk 39177, Republic of Korea. ⁷Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA. ⁸Department of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. ⁹Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. 

^*Corresponding author.
^†These authors contributed equally to this work

Ocular drug delivery remains a grand challenge due to the complex structure of the eye. Here, we introduce a unique platform of ocular drug delivery through the integration of silicon nanoneedles with a tear-soluble contact lens. The silicon nanoneedles can penetrate into the cornea in a minimally invasive manner and then undergo gradual degradation over the course of months, enabling painless and long-term sustained delivery of ocular drugs. The tear-soluble contact lens can fit a variety of corneal sizes and then quickly dissolve in tear fluid within a minute, enabling an initial burst release of anti-inflammatory drugs. We demonstrated the utility of this platform in effectively treating a chronic ocular disease, such as corneal neovascularization, in a rabbit model without showing a notable side effect over current standard therapies. This platform could also be useful in treating other chronic ocular diseases.