New technology could end finger pricking misery for diabetics

LIKE MILLIONS of people living with diabetes, since the age of nine, Donna Ineson’s life has been disrupted up to six times a day by having to prick her finger and measure her blood sugar levels.

It’s a necessary annoyance, but one that can often by overlooked on a busy day, putting the working mother’s health at risk, and the constant routine can leave her fingers painful and covered in blood blisters.

But she, and many of the 382 million people living with diabetes around the world, could soon see an end to the daily finger pricking, after a team at the University of Leeds developed a new non-invasive device that can measure blood glucose levels without penetrating the skin.

It uses a small device with low-powered lasers, and as well as improving the lives of diabetes sufferers, could provide the healthcare profession with a simple and cheaper alternative to the two current methods, finger pricking, which uses disposable sample strips, or invasive continuous monitors, which use implanted sensors that need regular replacement.

The technology even has the potential to be developed for continuous monitoring, a particular benefit for those, like Ms Ineson, with Type 1 diabetes.

The mother-of one, 32, of Horsforth, Leeds, was involved in testing the device.

She said having something as simple as a laser scanner would make her life a lot easier.