The eye-kidney connection has been known for some time, particularly due to diabetic retinopathy, a condition triggered by excess blood sugar levels that can lead to total blindness. It’s unfortunate that this condition is often preventable and diabetic patients simply fail to comply with their doctors’ prescribed diet and exercise plans.

The new scanning technology offers a possible way to keep on top of blood sugar levels without piercing the skin or drawing blood. In addition, this type of technology may be able to monitor the presence and levels of other substances in the bloodstream. Who knows? You might see police officers carrying them to check blood alcohol levels. But it won’t be any time soon.

See a video published by Visiogen for an illustration of IOL functionality.

The technology is not yet approved for use in the United States. No estimated date for approval has been published as yet.

Nutrition and eye health are more closely related than most people think about regularly. A number of different nutrients, when added to the diet, have been shown to reduce the risk of developing cataracts, macular degeneration, and various other eye-related disorders that commonly develop with age. In addition, simply hydrating regularly may have more of an impact than you realize. Water is integral to the healthy functioning of all the body’s systems. Drinking coffee or soda instead of water throughout the day is bad for cellular health.

In any case, it can’t hurt to eat healthy.

The effect is at its worst when lighting is poor in your working environment. If you work long hours into the night and find yourself in an office where the computer is the sole light source, this is likely to cause problems. Cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors create a more severe effect in this regard. The effect of eye strain can be mitigated by taking simple measures such as setting up proper lighting and adjusting your computer screen to optimal height.

Wearing contact lenses, on the other hand, is comfortable. It feels safer than piercing your eyeballs with laser beams.

Setting emotions aside, however, the factual data don’t always necessarily agree with our base human fears. Contact lenses, over time, pose a threat of  painful infection. If you sleep with your contact lenses in, the risks go up. The risk of infection is cumulative over time.

Studies have consistently shown the lifetime risk of Lasik surgery to be substantially less than that of wearing contact lenses. When assessing the risk of any procedure, recognize that your initial emotional reaction may not be the most reliable source of information. Look to the data instead.

The proponents of the program claimed that through natural exercises, myopia and other sight-related conditions could be completely cured, allowing its users to throw away their glasses or contacts.

While the idea of a set of exercises that cures your vision problems is a nice thought, no one has made it work so far.

Controlled studies were conducted after these claims were called into question, and the claims could not be substantiated. Eventually, the Iowa Attorney General’s office filed suit against Vision Improvement Technologies, the company that pioneered the See Clearly Method. VIT was ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution and to immediately stop selling the product.

Who knows? Maybe somebody will discover a method like this that actually works. Only time will tell…