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Sunday, January 02, 2005His eyes dry quickly, forcing him to add drops every 10 to 15 minutes, and still sometimes his eyelids rasp across his eyes, scratching his corneas and dimming his sight. “Can you imagine sandpaper scratching your eye every day, all day long?” said Rhonda Huffman, Beck’s mother. ...“I feel like Job every day. God told the devil, ’You can do anything to him except kill him.’ I’ve been there,” Beck said. He underwent an experimental surgery that transplants a salivary gland to the forehead to provide moisture for the eyes: But on Thursday, Dr. Randal C. Paniello transplanted a saliva gland from Beck’s neck to a spot near his temple, where it can provide moisture that can preserve the eye. The 12-hour surgery was the first of its kind in the United States, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday. The procedure has been successful about 80 percent of the time in treating dry-eye conditions in other countries, the newspaper said. ...The procedure bathes the eye in saliva, which is mostly water but also contains a mild thickening protein called muscin, which could help the eye retain moisture better. The saliva’s weak digestive enzyme, amylase, hasn’t appeared to damage eyes of past patients, Paniello said. Veterinarians do something similar for dogs. posted by Sydney on 1/02/2005 11:17:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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