Can Vitamin A Reduce Eye Minuses? Here’s What Experts Say

KOMPAS.com – Uploads accompanied by photos saying that vitamin A can reduce eye minuses, viral on social media. The photo was uploaded by a Twitter account This on Friday (21/7/2023).

In the upload, there is a photo showing one of the vitamin A products which is also accompanied by a description in it.

“My eye minus has decreased. It’s also good for growing children,” wrote the statement in the photo.

The uploader then asked if it was true that vitamin A could reduce myopia. In addition, he also asked if there were any side effects if taking vitamin A.

“JOG I found this on reels, can it really reduce eye minus? Are there any side effects?” asked the uploader.

As of Saturday (22/7/2023), the upload has been viewed more than 27,000 times and received 160 likes.

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Explanation of members

Professor of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Zullies Ikawati disputes that vitamin A can reduce or treat myopia.

Zullies said, vitamin A is good for eye health, but it cannot treat eye minus.

On the other hand, Zullies confirmed that vitamin A is good for the development of children, as stated in the upload.

“All vitamins are needed for the growth and development of children, for their own purposes,” he said.

He explained, vitamin A, retinol, or retinoic acid are nutrients that are important for the organs of vision, body growth, cell division, reproductive system health, and support the immune system.

Zullies revealed, until now there are no supplements or vitamins that can reduce or treat myopia. Even so, vitamin A can be used to treat night blindness.

“Vitamin A can be used to treat night blindness caused by a lack of vitamin A,” he said.

Mentioned, eye minus or nearsightedness is a condition of abnormalities in the eye that cannot see objects or objects that are too far away. This condition is also known as myopia.

Minus eyes are caused by a cornea that is too convex or an eyeball that is too long.

This causes the light that is refracted by objects that enter the eye cannot be focused on the retina, but the focus of objects falls in front of the retina so that sufferers cannot see distant objects clearly.

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Meanwhile, an ophthalmologist from Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) Mario Marbungaran Hutapea also denied that vitamin A could reduce eye minus.

“It’s not true that vitamin A can reduce minus (eyes), that’s a hoax,” said Mario to Kompas.com, Saturday (22/7/2023).

The doctor who also practices at the Jakarta Eye Center (JEC) said that vitamin A is indeed very beneficial for eye health but is not related to myopia.

“Because eye minus is related to continuous close viewing activity so that the eyeballs get longer,” he said.

In addition, a person suffering from eye minus can also be due to heredity or genetics.

He said, vitamin A is useful for preventing dry eyes, maintaining the health of the optic nerve or retina, and preventing night blindness.

Also read: Is it true that just trying on minus glasses can make your eyes minus?

Is there a way to reduce minus points?

According to Mario, currently there is no way to reduce eye minus without medical action such as LASIK surgery.

“Lasik surgery is a laser cornea so that the image can fall right at the center of vision,” he said.

Therefore, people can only prevent the increase in minus in the eye without medical action.

“We can only change habits, namely by reducing close viewing activities and increasing outdoor activities so that the minuses don’t continue to increase,” he said.

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Side effects of consuming too much vitamin A

Quoted from MayoClinic, consuming too much vitamin A also has an impact on health. One large dose of more than 200,000 mcg (micrograms) can cause:

Vomiting Vertigo Blurred vision.

If consumption of vitamin A is more than 10,000 mcg in the long term it can cause:
Bone thinning

Liver damage Headache Diarrhea Nausea Skin irritation Pain in joints and bones.

Also read: There are lots of spots like blood on the eyeball, this is the doctor’s explanation

If you are or may be pregnant, you should talk to your doctor before taking vitamin A.

That’s because excessive consumption of vitamin A during pregnancy can cause birth defects in children.

Therefore, it is better to pay attention to the safe limit of consumption of vitamin A per day.

Quoted from Kompas.com (21/9/21), while the intake limit for daily consumption that can be tolerated is 3,000 mcg.

However, it is recommended to consume vitamin A according to daily needs with as much as 900 mcg for adult men and 700 mcg for adult women.

Also read: Why Are Your Eyes Covered When You Sneeze? Here’s the Doctor’s Explanation

(Source: Kompas.com/Irawan Sapto Adhi)

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2023-07-22 08:30:00
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