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A Stylish Approach to Non-Invasive Glucose Testing

Posted by timothy on from the sounds-fun-for-non-diabetics-too dept.

legolas writes "ABC News has a story on a new blood sugar monitoring tool being developed for diabetics by the University of Pittsburgh. Using special "photonic crystals" (materials that change colours in the presence of specific chemicals), Dr. Asher's group is developing contact lenses that change colour in response to the blood sugar level in the diabetic's tears. Instead of needles, the diabetic need only a mirror." Maybe the insulin can be stored there too.

5 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Wow... the future of contact lenses! by SocialWorm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I look forward to the day when contacts act as a heads-up display. They just keep on getting more and more high-tech, so that seems like the most obvious end result. Just today, I found out that Cibavision is marketing contact lenses to improve tennis performance.

    --
    My Blog: http://nic.dreamhost.com/
  2. Needles? by splattertrousers · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Instead of needles, the diabetic need only a mirror.

    Diabetics don't use needles to test their blood sugar. They use tiny pins that create a small drop of blood which gets absorbed by a small strip of paper coated with chemicals which gets read by a small machine.

    And it doesn't hurt. There's no pain involved in testing your blood sugar, other than the fact that it's a pain in the ass to have to do it all the time.

    (I know because I do it 6 to 10 times a day.)

    1. Re:Needles? by devphil · · Score: 3, Interesting
      And it doesn't hurt. There's no pain involved in testing your blood sugar, other than the fact that it's a pain in the ass to have to do it all the time.

      It hurts like a sonuvabitch.

      Actually, it's not the pinprick that hurts. It's the little scabs/scars on the fingertips that kill me later, when I'm typing. (Yet another bonus to being diabetic: minor flesh wounds take longer to heal.) As I code and sysadmin[*] for a living, little flashes of pain with every keystroke are a major downside.

      As soon as the hold-a-laser-sensor-to-your-skin glucose meters drop within my price range, I'm there. The contact lenses would be cool too ("he's unconscious and his eyes are turning purple, what the fuck does that mean?"), but I've never liked wearing contacts.

      [*] Please don't tell my mother I'm a sysadmin; she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse.

      --
      You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
    2. Re:Needles? by devphil · · Score: 2, Interesting


      It works anywhere, with a few exceptions. All you need is a drop of typical blood. But it's typically very difficult to pierce the skin as easily and and with minimal damage (so to speak) as it is on the fingertips.

      --
      You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
  3. Eat more meat, lower your cholesterol by fendel · · Score: 2, Interesting

    . . . that would mean lots of meat which could adversely affect your health in other ways.

    Meat is not the problem. Carbs are bad; "trans fats" (hydrogenated fats) are awful. Protein and natural fats are your friend.

    I have a friend who's diabetic. She has lost 35 pounds in the last year on a low-carb diet and she now only needs one long-acting insulin shot per day (and her doc even lowered her dose of that) because her blood sugar has gotten so stable. In the process, her cholesterol and triglycerides have decreased dramatically. She is much healthier now, eating lots of meat and cheese and vegetables, than she was when she followed the government's dietary recommendations.

    Me, I eat a LOT of red meat and full-fat dairy products; my cholesterol is 177 (HDL is 65) and triglyerides are at 99.