10 Early Warning Signs Your Body Is Low in Vitamin A Do Not Ignore!

Dry, itchy eyes can be caused by a number of things including fatigue, eye strain, and dry weather. Being deficient in vitamin A, however, can also cause dryness of the eyes.

“Medically known as xerophthalmia, those suffering from the condition lose the ability to produce tears. This leads to the conjunctiva, where the whites of your eyes becoming very dry and often appearing wrinkled,” said Dr. Grant.

Xerophthalmia is caused by low levels of retinoic acid, which is produced in the body from vitamin A. If you don’t have enough of the vitamin, your eyes might become itchy and inflamed.

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A rare symptom of vitamin A deficiency is the formation of dark marks on the eye known as Bitot’s spots. They occur when the cells of the cornea and conjunctivae are filled with a fibrous protein called keratin.

“The cornea becomes hard and thickened, sometimes opaque, and vision is reduced. Sometimes small hard lumps of keratin form on the eye. These are called Bitot’s Spots and they further increase hazy vision,” registered dietician nutritionist Billi Green told us.

Normally, vitamin A helps protect the cornea from dryness and the formation of spots. These darkened patches are typically only seen in people with very severe vitamin A deficiencies.