Research and prospects for materials in ophthalmology: A review

Ophthalmic diseases remain a leading cause of irreversible visual impairment worldwide. Although conventional drug therapy and surgical intervention have substantially improved clinical management, their effectiveness is still limited by poor ocular bioavailability, insufficient tissue regeneration, donor shortages, and postoperative complications. Advances in biomaterials have provided new opportunities to address these challenges through rational material design and functional engineering. This review summarizes recent progress in ophthalmic biomaterials from a materials perspective, classifying them into natural polymers, synthetic polymers, metallic materials, composite materials, nanomaterials, hydrogels, and decellularized extracellular matrices. For each category, the relationships between material composition, structural characteristics, biological performance, and ophthalmic applications are discussed, with emphasis on corneal repair, retinal drug delivery, vitreous substitutes, intraocular lens and contact lens materials, orbital reconstruction, glaucoma treatment, and ocular tissue engineering. Particular attention is given to current strategies for improving mechanical properties, degradation behavior, bioactivity, targeted delivery, and microenvironment-responsive performance through molecular modification, composite design, and structural optimization. The remaining translational barriers, including long-term biosafety, manufacturing consistency, large-scale production, and clinical validation, are also highlighted. By integrating recent advances in material engineering with emerging concepts in intelligent and biomimetic design, this review provides a structured narrative synthesis of ophthalmic biomaterials from a materials-science perspective and identifies future directions for developing multifunctional materials with improved therapeutic efficacy and clinical translatability.