Engineer invents pain-free lancing to help friend with diabetes

Diabetes affects millions of people around the world. People diagnosed with this disease have to control their blood sugar levels all the time. To do this, they have to lance themselves multiple times a day in order to obtain a drop of test blood. When doing this day-after-day, it can lead to a lifetime of discomfort, especially on bruised, calloused and progressively numb fingertips.

When Christopher got a call from an old friend asking him to conceive a painless lancing instrument that would work from anywhere on the body, he accepted the challenged and started working. He gathered other engineers and began researching all the available literature on developing technologies to test glucose levels without the dreaded finger stick and found that most were useless to his friend. So, he realised that he had to start thinking "outside the box". The combination of vacuum and depth control really worked, blocking pain for the first time, as well as allowing lancing from anywhere on the body. It wasn’t and easy process but this was the beginning of Genteel.

“Over eight years in development, and with many frustrations and challenges along the way, Genteel as a product is a reality.”, Christopher said.

“I really could reliably deliver painless blood draw from anywhere on the body using a single light hand-held instrument.”, said Christopher.

Christopher found a mechanical engineer to work with him and together they started the production and function optimization of each part.

Finally, in 2009, he got his first patent and got his device into the market.

“Now, anyone-whether a diabetic, on blood thinners, or those using an at-home test kit, can reliably, repeatedly, and painlessly draw a drop of test blood from anywhere on their body. My friend is happy, which makes me happy!”, Christopher said.

Adapted from: https://insight.ieeeusa.org/articles/the-genteel-story-ieee-senior-membe...

More info: https://www.mygenteel.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjmYpWXJIq4