Laser Instead of Needle for Diabetics

The regular glucose test needle pricks are a necessary evil if you are suffering from diabetes. No matter how much you fear or loathe these regular pin pricks there was no better way to calculate your blood glucose level until now. Researchers at the Princeton University, Engineering School have been working on a new type of laser device.

This new laser device is able to tell the blood glucose content of a diabetic patient without the prerequisite poke with a needle to draw blood. The device is pointed at the person’s palm, passes through the skin cells and is partially absorbed by sugar molecules. This action allows the researchers to calculate the level of blood sugar in the patient’s blood.

With some more work the size of the laser device will be made smaller and its portability will improve. This new device will offer a respite from blood testing to a large number of diabetic patients who are dependent on frequent blood glucose monitoring to adjust their insulin dosage.

The current version is about 84% accurate, but a few more improvements would make the laser device a very viable alternative to blood testing for checking the blood glucose of a patient. Now that is what we call a very useful and fruitful science project.