Born to the Purple: the Story of Porphyria  Porphyrins are
light-activated chemicals that can be used to combat ills
including tumors and diseases of the eye. But they have a dark
side: when the wrong forms of them build up in the body, they
cause a disease called porphyria  Porphyria is named from the
ancient Greek word porphura, meaning purple. The Greeks borrowed
the term from the Phoenicians, who extracted a purple pigment
from purpura mollusks to dye the garments of their royal family.
Later, in the Byzantine Empire, the term porphyrogenitos, or
"born to the purple," literally meant that the imperial heir was
born after the father¿s accession to the throne, in a palace
room draped in the color.  However, those with the misfortune to
be born to the purple involved in porphyria--a group of diseases
that result from abnormal accumulations of red and purple
pigments produced by the body, called porphyrins--receive far
less than royal treatment. There are at least eight types of
porphyria, which vary substant