The ophthalmologist refined one of the world’s deadliest poisons into a treatment for serious eye impairments.
It is a neurotoxin 100 times more deadly than cyanide and the cause of the food-borne illness known as botulism. During World War II and for some years after, the Department of Defense hoped to develop it as a chemical weapon. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that Alan Scott, an ophthalmologist, turned this toxin, Clostridium botulinum, into a pharmaceutical when he began to investigate it as a medical treatment for serious eye impairments.
But the procedure succeeded, and Dr. Scott would go on to refine one of the world’s deadliest poisons into a life-altering treatment — he called it Oculinum — for those with conditions like strabismus, a misalignment of the eyes. Dr. Scott and his colleagues had spent decades researching and producing what they called Oculinum. But because they had no patent, no pharmaceutical company would manufacture it, and Dr. Scott resorted to taking out a mortgage on his house and asking for small donations from doctors, who then used it in clinical trials.
In the decades that followed, the public’s appetite for it as a facial enhancement exploded. Movie directors began complaining that actors were losing their ability to frown or smile properly — “frozen face” became a trope of the tabloids. It was derided as a pernicious enabler of a youth-obsessed society, a practice best left to the stars of reality television.
Dr. Scott earned an undergraduate degree in medical sciences from UC Berkeley in 1953 and a medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco. He had a surgical internship and residency in neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota, followed by a residency in ophthalmology at Stanford University. He was a founding member of the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco and the institute’s senior scientist and co-director for over two decades.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
Beatrice Mintz, pioneering scientist in cancer and genetics, dies at 100In decades of single-minded devotion to science, she produced seminal findings about cancer, how it develops, how it may be treated and the genetics underlying those discoveries.
Lire la suite »
Dallas Frazier Dies: Country Singer-Songwriter Behind “Elvira”, “Alley Oop” & Other Hits Was 82Dallas Frazier, the songwriter behind such country hits as The Oak Ridge Boys’ “Elvira,” The Hollywood Argyles’ “Alley Oop” and Emmylou Harris’ “Bene…
Lire la suite »
Dallas Frazier, Country Songwriter Behind “Elvira” and “Beneath Still Waters,” Dies at 82Frazier also co-wrote four No. 1 hits for Charley Pride.
Lire la suite »
Cremated remains of 89 people discovered in vacant Ohio churchAuthorities found the remains of 89 people at a vacant church in Akron, Ohio, during a search connected to an investigation into allegedly fraudulent funeral services.
Lire la suite »
Cremated remains of 89 people found by 'urban explorer' in abandoned Ohio churchHardin is already facing 37 counts including racketeering, tampering with records, identity fraud, operating an unlicensed funeral home and abuse of a corpse.
Lire la suite »