Reversal of the complications of self-induced vitamin A deficiency.

A previous report (Fells and Bors, I969) has described the case of a 25-year-old man who had deliberately, but illogically, omitted from his diet for 5 years all foods containing vitamin A or the precursor carotenoids, in response to his own idea that vitamin A was responsible for his grand mal epilepsy. He was observed from the onset of ocular symptoms in March, i968, to July, I969, during which time he consistently refused to take vitamin A systemically or even locally. In this interval he developed progressive bilateral corneal xerosis and stromal vascularization, conjunctival xerosis, and severe retinal damage with yellow spots in the fundus (Fig. i, opposite), great restriction ofvisual fields, virtually no light-induced rise on electrooculography and a small residual cone response only in the electroretinogram. Serum vitamin A and carotenoid levels were consistently lower than have been recorded previously in man (Table I).