Xerophthalmia is a progressive nutritional
disease of the eye due to deficiency of vitamin A.
That this term refers to dryness may be inferred from the prefix
"xero-" which means "dry", and is
also a part of other terms listed in this section - listed on the left.
That this term refers to the eye, i.e. dryness "of the eye"
may be inferred from the suffix "-ophthalmia"
because "ophthalmos" means "eye".
Xerophthalmia is sometimes (incompletely) defined just
as "dry eyes".
Symptoms include the cornea
and conjunctiva
becoming extremely dry, thickened, and wrinkled. Contributory factors
generally include deficiency of tears or conjunctival secretions. Xerophthalmia
is also associated with Night
Blindness.
If left untreated, xerophthalmia may also begin to affect
the cornea in the form of keratoconjunctivis
sicca and, if severe, progress to keratomalacia.
In the worst cases xerophthalmia may ultimately lead
to blindness.
In addition to systemic deficiency of vitamin A, xerophthalmia
may be exacerbated by trauma (such as injury) and/or by exposure.
More about Ophthalmology: This section includes short definitions
of many diseases, disorders, and conditions of the eyes and visual system.
For definitions of other terms in this category, choose from the list
to the left (but note that this is not a complete/exhaustive list).
Other related pages include the diagram
of the eye, and definitions
of parts of the eye, a description
of the human retina, and definitions
of parts of the retina, and the section of short definitions
of clinical and surgical procedures re. eyes and human visual system.
For further information see also our section of Books
about Ophthalmology. |
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This Section
is about
Diseases
and Disorders of the Eyes and Visual System.
To read about other diseases, disorders, or conditions of the eye and
human visual system, use the links on the left-side of this page.
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