901 HE A LTH
contin u ed from page 53 Memphis Magazine’s
THE 2018
FACE
D
No Need for Needles
iabetes has been diagnosed, in its various forms, for centuries. Ancient manuscripts left behind by Egyptian, Greek, and other cultures referenced a disease that caused extreme thirst and excessive urination, along with a host of other maladies. Before the discovery of artificial insulin in the 1920s, that diagnosis usually carried with it the dread knowledge that the patient’s lifespan was half that of healthy men and women.
OF COMPOUNDING PHARMACY
Latif picks up a black box half the size of an iPhone, passes it over his upper arm, and within a second his blood sugar level is displayed on a small screen.
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New medical devices, such as portable insulin pumps, are no larger than many smartphones.
In more recent years, advances in technology have changed that outlook, but the condition still requires careful monitoring of blood sugar levels. Anyone with a friend or family member with diabetes knows about the spring-loaded lancets that prick a finger to draw a droplet of blood, which is carefully placed on a test trip inserted into a glucose monitor. These meters have become less expensive and more reliable, but still, drawing the blood hasn’t been a pleasant task. It doesn’t help that the meters and especially the disposable test strips can be quite expensive — not to mention the medication(s) required to treat the disease. In a meeting room at his center, Latif picks up a black box half the size of an iPhone, passes it over his upper arm, and within a second his blood sugar level is displayed on a small screen. Tap a button, and a graph shows how it has fluctuated — within normal limits, since he doesn’t have the disease — throughout the day. No needle jabbed into a finger, no 56 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • M A Y 2 0 1 8