Scientists have discovered a way to find your vein before poking around half a dozen times to find the spot. The Australian Red Cross Blood Service is using a near-infrared vein light device that locates blood to study whether being able to locate hard-to-find veins will result in reduced anxiety and thus make it more likely these types of donors will come back and donate again.
The Blood Service says it will test 300 first-timers and 600 returning blood donors between ages 18 and 30 on different devices from two separate Australian providers. The hope is that if this works for younger donors, they will become lifelong contributors to the Red Cross.
The vein visualization device works by waving a near infrared light source over naturally deoxygenated hamoglobin in the body. The deoxygenated hemoglobin absorbs that light and your veins show up in glowing green. The machines should be safe unless you stare directly at them (so don’t do that). They can also be adjusted for individual differences.
Here’s a little more about how the technology works:
FEATURED IMAGE: AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS Originally posted on Techcrunch