Questionable Response to Medical Data

I listed "Cataracts/Alternative Treatment" on the Eye Care forum. Dr. Hagen replied to me disputing my evidence. I replied to him and citing documentation by my retina MD. Because my comment contradicted what he said (he is a surgeon after all) he had my reply deleted. Here goes:

"Cataracts/Alternative Treatment"

There is an article by Dr. Jonathan V. Wright in the July 2008 edition of Nutrition and Healing that discusses a trial of n-acetyl-carnosine eye drops for the treatment of cataracts. Using two drops a day, in six months 90 per cent of the treated eyes showed improvement, as high as 100 per cent.

I did not know of this article when I started using the drops in November 2009. For the first six months I only used one drop a day. When I saw improvement I went to the standard treatment of 2 drops a day. By November 2010 (exactly one year later) my left eye improved 100 per cent and my right eye almost that much. I am still under treatment. My progress is documented by my retina MD. I will be tested again this coming May. There are no side effects.

Before I started treatment I was told I needed cataract surgery. I am now told that I do not.

Reply by Dr. Hagen:

To: NO NOT A MIRACLE DROP

There are some eye drops under legitimate study that show promise of slowing down the progression of cataracts BUT N ACETYL CARNOSINE IS NOT ONE OF THEM. There is a well organized promotional machine on the internet that promises this "miracle product". Almost none of it is legitimate is is overwhelming geared to selling the stuff on the internet.

My reply to Dr. Hagen:

You can be as emphatic as you like, but YOU ARE WRONG. At least in case you are wrong. How else can you explain an improvement in my left eye from 20/100 to 20/50. and my right eye from 20/70 to 20/40, in exactly one year, and documented by a retinal MD? Spontaneous remission? The placebo effect? A miracle? A misdiagnosis?

I was told about 15 years ago that I had incipient cataracts. I don't believe in miracles. As for the placebo effect, wishing will make it so? I guess we can settle on spontaneous remission, a catchall for cures by alternative medicine that cannot be explained by traditionalists.

About three years ago I first tested the carnosine drops (which are used in Europe for treatment of cataracts) for efficacy by using it in only one eye. I detected changes and after one month I added the drops to the other eye. The same changes. (Early changes had to do with intensity of color.) I did not pursue the treatment at the time. Over time my eyesight worsened and I had tests taken in November 2009. I was told I needed cataract surgery. I remembered what our old family doctor (my uncle actually) said, "Surgery is the last resort, after you have tried everything else." I followed his dictum and I am glad I did.

People who involve themselves in alternative therapies are considered by the traditional medical community to be innocent dupes. I am hardly that. In fact I am an experienced and dogged researcher who was at one time a medical editor. I never feared cataract surgery and had, with your sound advice, already chosen the lenses I wanted. One of my brothers and one of my sisters had already had cataract surgery with very fine results.

I have followed this forum for quite some time and am impressed with the quality of information and help. Ihave learned a great deal about eye conditions and treatments, and for that I thank you and Dr. Oyakawa. But I am sorry to say that you have a blind spot when it come to treatments that you have not personally tested or employed.

[gymdandee]

Great article! I'm going to try it and will keep you posted

[gymdandee]

Great article! I'm going to try it and will keep you posted

[Paxiled]

Love the "blind spot" comment.  Classic.

[allmymarbles]

Glad you liked it. My favorite of all time was when I used the expression "dissemination of birth control information." That one actually got published in an economics study. Usually no gets it but me.

[allmymarbles]

Good luck. But, remember, be compliant.

[margypops]

Great post/article  I have'nt cataracts but would love better vision ..

[allmymarbles]

Thee was one study that indicated it reversed presbyopia. That study included the use of MSM along with the standard formula. Surely it cleared my corneas and my husband said that my eyes have their old sparkle. As you age everything about the eye gets crudded up with debris, and that includes the corneas.

[allmymarbles]

Just for the record, n-acetyl-carnosine is nothing more than a radical scavenger. It is not eye of newt.