A recent study by the [French] National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS) and Paris'sPierre and Marie Curie University, along with the French Centre for Museum Restoration and Research says the quantities of lead used in ancient Egyptian eyeliner actually triggered the body's immune response and helped to protect the wearer's eyes from infection!
[Image: Gilded cartonnage mummy-mask of a lady of high rank early 18th dynasty 1500 BCE from Thebes Egypt. Photographed at the British Museum by Mary Harrsch]
"To get these results, the team under Christian Amatore made use of laurionite, a lead chloride among the salts synthesised by ancient Egyptians, and noted its actions on an isolated cell of the skin with the help of ultramicroelectrodes, observing the super-production of a few dozen thousands of molecules of nitric oxide molecules. This stimulates the arrival of macrophages cells which clean the organism by eating living bacteria and various residual matter." - ANSAmed
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