Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The eyes window to the soul


I have always found it intriguing that in looking into peoples eyes shows if they are healthy or not. You can get a feel for a persons overall health by the eyes, if they are "cloudy" you know that all is not well. This is a completely unscientific gut thing, but I have faith that this gut feel is right, because there is an emotional and spiritual part of us humans that no machine could ever measure.

It is now commonly accepted that that retina (back of the eye) is one of the earliest places that diabetes shows up. This is because diabetes causes blood supply issues due to improper sugar levels. The very thin blood vessels that supply the "sensing" part of the eye are one of the first blood vessels to be effected. The back of the eye can be very easily observed through a photography machine that takes pictures of your retina. This is a very simple process and if you have not had it done in the last few years you should do it this year.

What is new is the next step in technology, this article talks about using the eye as a window to brain health. Researchers in little old NZ have figured out that by using light to penetrate into the retina a 3D model of the retina can be built up. This model can them detect and track brain tumors, neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. This is a wonderful non invasive way of measuring brain health.

My last observation is that this is typical "wellness" for the medical system - it is not true wellness, but earlier detection of sickness.

Image stolen from : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/8903.htm

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