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Show llflllPI Released by Western Newspaper Union. VITAMIN A AND EYES So much is being said over the radio and in newspapers and magazines maga-zines about the wonderful results of treatment by vitamins that many thoughtful physicians are naturally becoming becom-ing a little doubtful as to the truth of all these claims. The vitamins are going through the same "trials" as have other special forms of treatment for various ailments and it may be a con- siaeraDie lime yet Dr. Barton before we learn the full or true value of vitamins in the treatment of simple and serious ailments. For years it has been known that vitamin A was effective in the treatment treat-ment of eye diseases, particularly those that affect the covering of the eyeball. One of the common eye ailments seen mostly in children is follicular conjunctivitis where there is inflammation inflam-mation of the covering of the eyeball eye-ball together with formation of little pink lumps the size of a pinhead (lymph follieles) on the covering of the eyeball and edges of eyelids. There is also some photophobia fear of light. It is found mostly in schools. The usual treatment has been use of eye washes, attention to the general gen-eral health, hot and cold applications, applica-tions, tinted lenses, correction of eye strain- or other defects. Although all cases recover in time, there are some where the symptoms persist for many months. What about vitamin A in this particular type of eye ailment follicular fol-licular conjunctivitis? Doctors M. R. Sandels, H. D. Cate, K. P. Wilkinson and L. J. Graves, in the American Journal Diseases of Children, report the results of their investigation of 119 children with follicular conjunctivitis treated by vitamin A. Twenty-one of the 22 children in series 1, who received extra vitamin A, showed improvement, improve-ment, and of these II were entirely free of conjunctivitis at the end of the nine-week experimental period. No improvement occurred in the eyes of any of the 17 children who were not given vitamin A. In another series, 60 children who received graded amounts of vitamin vita-min A were improved while of 20 children who received no vitamin A during the same period, only two who had received a more generous diet showed any improvement. These physicians state, therefore, that lack of enough vitamin A appears ap-pears to be the cause of follicular conjunctivitis. |
