How to manage children with the eye signs of vitamin A deficiency

Correcting the deficiency Children with any of the features of xerophthalmia should be assumed to be markedly vitamin A deficient, with low stores of retinol in their livers. They need multiple doses of vitamin A to restore their serum levels and to boost their liver stores. The recommended treatment for a child with any of the eye signs of VAD is shown in Table 1. Explain to the child’s mother that three doses are needed. Watch the child being given the first dose to make sure he/she takes it, and give the mother the other doses for the next day and two weeks later. If the child is very sick and cannot swallow, intramuscular preparations are available. In cases of acute deficiency with ocular manifestations, parenteral/intramuscular injection of 50,000 international units of water soluble vitamin A is very useful, giving immediate improvement both in the ocular and systemic conditions.