HYPOVITAMINOSIS A IN OPHTHALMOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

Purpose.

—The signs and symptoms of gross vitamin A deficiency both in experimental animals and in human subjects are well known to all students of medicine and nutrition and will not be discussed in this paper. A satisfactory presentation of the accepted clinical manifestations of vitamin A deficiencies may be found in Duke-Elder's "Text-Book of Ophthalmology." In reviewing the literature with reference to vitamin A deficiency, it has been my aim to correlate the thoughts and experiences of the various authors, so that a better clinical application of the known facts may be made.

Nomenclature.

—The term "hypovitaminosis" has been chosen because the word "avitaminosis" carries a meaning of complete absence of the vitamin under consideration. Such a condition is difficult to attain experimentally if the animal is provided with an adequate diet except for the vitamin under observation and probably never exists so far as the human case