When you jab a finger in your eye, it hurts, but it can also injure the epithelial cells on the surface of your cornea: the clear, front of the eye.

The cornea works a lot like the skin for our eyes, serving as this frontline protection. It’s also essential to light getting into our eyes so we can see.

While most of us recover from that finger jab, those with a more significant injury or a complicating disease like diabetes, may not recover well, and vison can be compromised. Scientists have evidence that a species of a lipid that helps our skin heal, may help. One day, topical application of this lipid “DOPG” to the injured cornea may reduce damaging inflammation and protect vision.

In this week’s Medical Minute, Dr. Joseph Hobbs, chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, discusses recently discovered evidence that a substance known to help heal injuries to our skin may also be beneficial for treating vision threatening damage to our corneas. 

The Medical Minute airs at 8:18 a.m., 1:20 p.m. and 5:18 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday on 17 GPB radio stations across Georgia. For more Medical Minute episodes, visit the Medical Minute 2020 SoundCloud page.