Just as the price of gold is going up, so is the demand among glaucoma patients. Researchers now believe that small amounts of gold may help relieve eye pressure.
The study comes from Yale University; scientists are inserting a tiny shunt in the eye. A shunt made of gold, which will reduce pressure in the eye, and prevent glaucoma from stealing any more vision.
Ron Kortsep is a patient, and he said, "My left eye was getting weaker. I was losing vision, peripheral vision, which glaucoma tends to do. The glaucoma was getting more aggressive, so we're trying some different things to bring the pressure down."
Dr. Loewen is a glaucoma surgeon, and he stated, "with these smaller incisions less wound area, equals a quiet eye, equals a comfortable eye."
Dr. Loewen is the first in the United States to insert the gold shunt in an experimental study to determine if that can reduce eye pressure by helping it drain properly. The procedure is already approved in other countries.
This isn't the same as the gold on your finger. It's highly purified, so the body does not reject it.
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