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Eye Drops Could Dissolve Cataracts
An anonymous reader writes: As Slashdot readers age, more and more will be facing surgery for cataracts. The lack of cataract surgery in much of the world is a major cause of blindness. Researchers at University of California San Diego have identified lanosterol as a key molecule in the prevention of cataract formation that points to a novel strategy for cataract prevention and non-surgical treatment. The abstract is freely available from Nature. If you have cataracts, you might want to purchase a full reprint while you can still read it.
While cataract surgery isn't a big deal, it still is surgery, requiring cutting of the eye, replacing the lens, etc.
Part of the aging process of the eye also makes it stiffer, producing presbyopia (Far sightedness). I wonder if these drops will also affect that as well. Now that I'm on the high side of 40, I've noticed this in my own eyes, and it is quite irritating.
..........FULL STOP.
If you have cataracts, you might want to purchase a full reprint while you can still read it.
The summary is only five sentences long, and you had to use one to be an asshole?
N-acetyl carnosine drops have been used with good success for a while. Bought them for my grandmother in law. Over the course of a couple of years it halted and mostly reversed her developing cataracts. Can get them from multiple sources.
Here is a link to a paper describing some of the early research.
Please read all of this.
http://www.berkeleywellness.com/self-care/over-counter-products/article/cataract-drops
N-acetyl carnosine drops have been used with good success for a while. Bought them for my grandmother in law. Over the course of a couple of years it halted and mostly reversed her developing cataracts. Can get them from multiple sources.
Good information - especially while we're waiting for this stuff to become available.
I note, though, that:
- This newly-identified material substantially clears cataracts in six days while N-acetyl carnosine takes four months for significant improvement to show.
- This newly-identintified material appears to be what the eye normally uses in a specific mechanism to prevent/repair cataracts, while N-acetyl carnosine appears to have more generic antioxidant and chelation properties. (It's a modification of carnosine to a form which can penetrate the tissues of the eye and is converted back to carnosine within them. Carnosine is great for retarding several ageing mechanisms but it looks more like a generic helper than a specific repair-mechanism component or trigger for cataracts.)
- The discovery of this new stuff occurred by identifying what was missing in people with a genetic early-cataract problem. If this is necessary for cataract prevention/repair and its production declines (but doesn't fully stop) with age, N-acetyl carnosine might not work for people who don't make it at all.
So though N-acetyl carnosine looks good, this looks great and specific. (And I don't see any reason to stop the former even if taking the latter. Unless some specific interaction issue shows up I'd expect them to work well together.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Currently, cataract surgery is the most commonly performed operation - millions every year in the United States alone. This sounds a bit too good to be true ... but if it actually worked, it would have a HUGE impact on the eye industry.
The real holy grail would be if it also restored the flexibility of the lens so you would get your accommodation back.
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