Dryness of the part of the eye ball exposed to air and light due to Vitamin A deficiency

Clinical features

• Starts with night blindness
• Followed by dryness of the conjunctiva and cornea
• Eventually the cornea melts away, the eye perforates and total blindness occurs

Differential diagnosis

• Trachoma
• Corneal injury

Management
HC2

See under Vitamin A deficiency (p160)

Prevention

• Good balanced diet especially for children, women and institutionalised persons, eg. prisoners, long-term hospital in-patients, boarding school students, etc

• vitamin A supplements:

- child <5 yrs presenting with any illness: 100,000 IU
- any child being vaccinated against measles: 100,000 IU
- all mothers after delivery: 200,000 IU
- anyone being vaccinated against polio: 200,000 IU