Sickle Cell

Hydroxyurea
The first approved drug for the causative treatment of sickle-cell anaemia, hydroxyurea, was shown to decrease the number and severity of attacks in a study in 1995 and shown to possibly increase survival time in a study in 2003. This is achieved, in part, by reactivating fetal haemoglobin production in place of the haemoglobin S that causes sickle-cell anaemia. Hydroxyurea had previously been used as a chemotherapy agent, and there is some concern that long-term use may be harmful, but this risk has been shown to be either absent or very small and it is likely that the benefits outweigh the risk
(source; wikipedia)

heard of sickle cell retinopathy?
its my first time of hearing about it tho, and this is what i heard, i hope it is useful
it is damage of the retina in the eyes, it occurs when red blood cells get stucked or trapped in blood vessels in the retina. when this happens, the trapped cells can cause
1. a decrease in blood flow which leads to potentially permanent damage of the retina
2. bleeding of the eye which happens when the eye makes new blood vessels which comes out weaker and thinner than the original and then break open and bleed.
when the retina becomes damaged, changes n eyesight may occur.
THIS DAMAGE MAY LEAD TO BLINDNESS IF IT IS NOT TREATED

(watch out for description of the symptoms coming up on the next post) hope this was useful to some extent

pictures from the just concluded free TCD test. more pictures coming up