Vitamin A Deficiency - Xerophthalmia

What?

Vitamin A is an important nutrient to maintain eye health. Lack of vitamin A causes eye disease and can lead to blindness. In fact, vitamin A deficiency is the single greatest preventable cause of childhood blindness. People most at risk are children between six months to six years, pregnant women, and lactating women.

Night blindness:

The child cannot see in the dim light or twilight. Nightblindness is also found in pregnant women in some instances, especially during the last trimester of pregnancy when the vitamin A needs are increased.

Bitot Spots:

These are foamy and whitish cheese-like tissue spots that develop around the eye ball, causing severe dryness in the eyes. These spots do not affect eye sight in the day light.

Blindness:

Once the dry eyes set in, the eye becomes very sensitive and begins to scratch and scar. The eyelids become swollen and sticky. This eventually leads to blindness. Once blindness occurs, it cannot be reversed.

Other symptoms of deficiency:

When the body lacks vitamin A, the systems that resist infection and disease do not work very well. That is why children with Vitamin A deficiency fall sick more often, take much longer to recover and are more likely to die. Problems with bones and teeth can also occur frequently.

Examples of what symptoms might look like

Why is it important?

Vitamin A maintains healthy cells in various structures of the eye and is required for converting light into nerve signals in the part of the eye called the retina. When vitamin A is not available to the body, gradual changes begin to affect the eye. The first sign of a problem is when a child or a pregnant or lactating woman finds it difficult to adjust to seeing in the dark. This condition is called night blindness.