February 12, 2012
How do I become a test subject for glaucoma research?
Category: Glaucoma
Is this even necessary? I don’t care what happens to my left eye, so they can do as many experiments on it as they need.
One Response to “How do I become a test subject for glaucoma research?”
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February 12th, 2012 at 7:18 am
Normally, you need to have been diagnosed with glaucoma. If you fit the other cirteria, then you will be asked if you want to become a participant, assuming that the center you have visited takes part in such trials.
Good trials don’t take people who just want to volunteer, regardless of how good their intentions are. Such things can introduce a bias into patient selection (known as selection bias, one of many different types of bias you have to avoid when running a trial), and can be argued to have an impact on the data collected. For trials to be accepted by physicians and other specialists, the people running it need to be able to show they have done everything according to strict criteria, and have removed as much bias as possible.
Of course, if you’ve been diagnosed with glaucoma, and fit the other criteria, and can contact the relevent people, I’m sure they’ll be happy to enlist you.