Local Use of Vitamin a Preparations in Ophthalmic Practice

Treatment of Xerophthalmia With Retinol, Tretinoin, and Etretinate

“…Topical application of vitamin A preparations was once advocated for many ophthalmic disorders. 13 The tra¬ dition of using fish liver oil, rich in vitamin A, topically on xerophthalmic eyes persisted in India until the 1930s.14 This approach was apparently a cure for night blindness as well, and Wolf14 suggested that some of the vitamin A could have entered the nose via the lacrimal duct and subsequent¬ ly been swallowed, entering the body as usable vitamin A. In rabbits an arterial connection is present between the two internal ophthalmic arteries and this feature might also explain the response to tretinoin seen in the other eye.…”