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Blindness in an American Boy Caused by Unrecognized Vitamin A Deficiency
Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122:1228-1229.
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Vitamin A deficiency is an enormous problem in the developing world, where UNICEF and other organizations now distribute more than 400 million high-dose, biannual supplements every year. In developed countries vitamin A deficiency is rarely found. Xerophthalmia caused by vitamin deficiency has been reported in food faddists and psychiatric patients.1 However, most of the cases observed in developed countries are due to alcoholism and conditions causing malabsorption.2 Since better nutritional standards in affluent societies make vitamin A deficiency with ocular complications rare, early diagnosis of such deficiency may be overlooked. We report a case of bilateral keratomalacia caused by vitamin A deficiency, leading to bilateral irreversible blindness in a 6-year-old Asian child living in New York, NY.
Report of a Case
A 6-year-old Asian boy was referred to the Cornea Service of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, in December 2002 with a 10-month history of bilateral corneal ulceration, perforation, keratoplasty, and, finally, . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Comment
Margarita I. Rodrigues, MD;
Claes H. Dohlman, MD, PhD
Correspondence: Dr Dohlman, Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles St, Boston, MA 02114 (claes_dohlman@meei.harvard.edu).
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