Did you know that wearing eye liner can actually make you healthier. Well, it could if you had lived in ancient Egypt.
Love for lead
Scientists have long known that ancient Egyptians used lead based compounds in their cosmetics but they weren’t aware of the long term health risks associated with lead poisoning (such as brain damage and miscarriages.) But now, according to ScienceNow, new research hints that their love of lead may have actually prevented some eye diseases.
The article describes how chemists working at the Louvre Museum in Paris found a synthetic lead salt in the museum’s collection of Egyptian cosmetic artifacts. This salt is not found in nature which means that ancient Egyptians had to make it. But why? The answer might lie in ancient manuscripts that say they used lead salts to treat both eye ailments and certain skin conditions.
With further research, the researchers found that similar lead compounds could trigger skin cells to release hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide, and other compounds that help the body’s immune system. You can read the entire article to understand how scientists are interpreting these results, but there does seem to be a reasonable hypothesis that the Egyptians could have used lead eye makeup to treat or prevent disease.
How, you ask, could such an ancient culture have known about such advanced medical technology? The Right Brain would tell you it’s because they were visited by space aliens. But that’s what you get for watching Fringe.
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