Hanuveda

It depends entirely on the cause, and this is the most important thing on the page. If it is vitamin A deficiency — the commonest cause — it resolves in about four weeks with vitamin A, and Ayurveda's classical treatment was actually liver-based preparations, which are rich in vitamin A. If it is retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited retinal disease, nothing currently available cures it. Cataract needs surgery; short-sightedness needs glasses. So the honest answer is: the treatable causes are treatable, and our first job is to work out which you have.

In a real sense, yes — and it was not alone. Classical Ayurvedic Anjana preparations for Naktandhya were ground in animal liver juice. Galen recommended eating goat liver, the Greeks prescribed liver soaked in honey, and a seventh-century Chinese physician described a cure using pig's liver. Liver is the body's vitamin A store. Several traditions independently found the right treatment centuries before vitamin A was identified in 1913. It is a genuine achievement — and it is also, honestly, an argument for taking vitamin A.

? Probably not. The signs respond at different speeds: conjunctival changes and Bitot's spots improve within about two weeks, but the retinal effects are slower, and night blindness and dark adaptation problems often take around four weeks to resolve. Give it the full four weeks. If there is no improvement by then, the diagnosis needs revisiting — and that usually means electroretinography.

It's worth checking. Plant foods contain carotenoids, which your body converts to vitamin A far less efficiently than the preformed vitamin A in dairy, eggs and fish. Absorption also depends on dietary fat, so a low-fat vegan diet compounds the problem. Eating more carrots may not be enough. Get your retinol level checked and discuss supplementation.

That is a recognised connection and worth investigating promptly. Bariatric surgery impairs fat absorption, and vitamin A is fat-soluble — it is now a leading cause of vitamin A deficiency in otherwise well-nourished people. Liver disease, coeliac disease and pancreatic problems do the same. You need retinol testing and a proper supplementation plan, usually at higher doses than standard.

That pattern — gradual onset in a young person with no nutritional risk factors — raises the possibility of retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited retinal condition that typically begins with night blindness years before anything else changes. It needs a dilated retinal examination, visual field testing and electroretinography, and usually genetic testing. It is not reversible, but diagnosis matters a great deal for prognosis, for your family, for low vision support, and for access to emerging treatments.

Only on a retinal specialist's advice, with your genetic subtype known. High-dose vitamin A has been proposed for some forms of RP, but it is harmful in others — particularly Stargardt disease and ABCA4-related retinopathy, where it accelerates retinal damage. This is genuinely a case where the wrong supplement makes things worse.

If they are foamy, triangular and greyish-white, usually on the outer side, they may be Bitot's spots — a strong indicator of vitamin A deficiency. Please have this seen today. They typically clear within about two weeks of high-dose vitamin A, and their presence alongside night blindness marks a substantially raised mortality risk in childre