Did having her scalp zapped with electrical currents five times a week for four weeks restore Dunedin writer Lynley Hood’s sight? After more than a decade of being unable to read or write easily because of damage caused by glaucoma, Hood has no doubts the electrical stimulation she received in 2021 is the reason she can now see properly again.
“I’m on a mission to correct people when they say it’s a miracle – it’s obviously science,” says Hood, who is now happily carrying out research for books she once thought she would never be able to write.
She received the therapy as part of a placebo group in a University of Otago study looking at the treatment of chronic lower back pain. She’d be delighted if her experience leads to others also regaining their sight: “It’s really important that other people benefit from this.”
Not surprisingly, the study lead, University of Otago research fellow Dr Divya Adhia, takes a slightly more circumspect view. She agrees there is very likely a link between the electrical stimulation Hood received and the return of her eyesight. But exactly how
