Riboflavin Therapy Can Reverse Myopia

[haidut]

As the article says the therapy is not yet approved by the FDA in the US but if it works as well as it is being described then it is only a matter of time to get it available here. I am not sure I am thrilled about the UVA light used as part of the procedure, but still it is an impressive achievement considering myopia is usually considered only temporarily reversible and only through surgery. Maybe red light instead of the UVA can work just as well...

Crosslinking showing potential for refractive correction

"...PiXL is being developed as an epithelium-on procedure using riboflavin products able to penetrate through an intact epithelium and the Mosaic System (Avedro) UVA device that offers topography-guided treatment patterns along with programmable, customizable illumination patterns and real-time eye tracking. It applies the corneal flattening effect of corneal cross-linking to reduce refractive error. Myopia is reduced by restricting crosslinking to the central portion of the cornea, whereas a more peripheral doughnut-shaped treatment is used to reduce hyperopia."

 

[LeeLemonoil]

UV/B2-Crosslinking is in use in many countries for some years already. It does not reverse myopia but corneal deformations, it modulates the corneal tissue. Other underlying factors of Myopia have to do with the lenses and eyeball-elongation, which crosslinking does not influence.
The Results are also not predictable and depend on the initial situation of your cornea.

 

[haidut]

UV/B2-Crosslinking is in use in many countries for some years already. It does not reverse myopia but corneal deformations, it modulates the corneal tissue. Other underlying factors of Myopia have to do with the lenses and eyeball-elongation, which crosslinking does not influence.
The Results are also not predictable and depend on the initial situation of your cornea.

Thanks for the clarification. The reason I titled it this way is that the study says it reduced myopia.

 

[marikay]

anecdotal here but I had myopia as a teen and in the summertime after being out in the sun for a few hours, they myopia was significantly diminished…uvb i'm guessing..

 

[InChristAlone]

Being outside would reduce eyeball elongation from too much close up. Or in the case of pseudo myopia it would relax the ciliary.

 

[johnwester130]

Wow, this is strange, this was written Oct 22nd

No vitamin or supplement can help, but maybe this could

 

[johnwester130]

Maybe I am being delusional or it's a placebo effect,
but liquid riboflavin did seem to enhance my eyesight.

I am minus 4 in both eyes.

 

[johnwester130]

vision improvement needs to be done with reduced lenses, for distance AND close up

https://raypeatforum.com/community/...to-vision-and-myopia-improvement.21244/page-2

the mild blur stimulus improves eyesight

 

[LeeLemonoil]

Maybe oral B2 and a bit of natural sunlight exposure can haev the same effects as the clinical crosslinking treatment?
Here is an eye-doctor that reports as much:

Dietary Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2) and Cornea Cross-Linking - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

Corneal ectasia as a complication from refractive (LASIK) surgery as well as keratoconus is a slowly progressive condition that results in high patient morbidity. Treatment options aim to stabilize the shape of the cornea using rigid contact lenses, surgical insertion of stiff plastic intrastromal rings, corneal cross linking, and ultimately corneal transplant in severe patients. The recently FDA approved "Dresden Protocol" involves painful cornea scraping followed by application of concentrated Riboflavin, followed by immediate collagen cross linking with UV light exposure which results in shortening and thickening of the collagen fibrils, and therefore a stronger, stiffer cornea. Avedro has demonstrated an average cornea flattening (K max reduction) of 1.4 diopters and 1.7diopters in two different studies. The current cost of Avedro therapy is between $2500 -$3500 per treatment. This is considered experimental at this time and therefore is not covered by any insurance.To spare the patient the severe pain involved in the current procedure, and to avoid the high cost (Avedro is not covered by any medical insurance), the investigator started 7 patients with keratoconus from 2011-2015 in his private practice in Seattle on a trial of oral riboflavin (100 mg or 400 mg daily) and 15 minutes of sunlight exposure daily. No adverse effects have ever been reported with high-dose dietary riboflavin supplements. The results of this preliminary trial are remarkable. During follow-up from 6 months to 5 years, all 7 patients have had corneal stabilization and/or corneal flattening. One patient experienced flattening of the cornea by 1.5 Diopters, comparable to the best results of the Avedro system. A limited animal study is currently underway to document that corneal cross-linking occurs in response to dietary riboflavin and UV exposure from the sun. This clinical study would expand the promising preliminary findings to a larger sample size. This has the potential to save millions of dollars in health care costs and ease the burden of treatment in patients who require therapy to induce corneal cross-linking to stabilize the cornea's shape.

So maybe patients with Keratoconus or astigmatism in general can at leat profit from hgher b2 supplementation by stopping corneal deformation-progress.
@Ella is the Keratoconus specialist here.

 

[Ella]

Maybe oral B2 and a bit of natural sunlight exposure can haev the same effects as the clinical crosslinking treatment?
Here is an eye-doctor that reports as much:

Dietary Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2) and Cornea Cross-Linking - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

Corneal ectasia as a complication from refractive (LASIK) surgery as well as keratoconus is a slowly progressive condition that results in high patient morbidity. Treatment options aim to stabilize the shape of the cornea using rigid contact lenses, surgical insertion of stiff plastic intrastromal rings, corneal cross linking, and ultimately corneal transplant in severe patients. The recently FDA approved "Dresden Protocol" involves painful cornea scraping followed by application of concentrated Riboflavin, followed by immediate collagen cross linking with UV light exposure which results in shortening and thickening of the collagen fibrils, and therefore a stronger, stiffer cornea. Avedro has demonstrated an average cornea flattening (K max reduction) of 1.4 diopters and 1.7diopters in two different studies. The current cost of Avedro therapy is between $2500 -$3500 per treatment. This is considered experimental at this time and therefore is not covered by any insurance.To spare the patient the severe pain involved in the current procedure, and to avoid the high cost (Avedro is not covered by any medical insurance), the investigator started 7 patients with keratoconus from 2011-2015 in his private practice in Seattle on a trial of oral riboflavin (100 mg or 400 mg daily) and 15 minutes of sunlight exposure daily. No adverse effects have ever been reported with high-dose dietary riboflavin supplements. The results of this preliminary trial are remarkable. During follow-up from 6 months to 5 years, all 7 patients have had corneal stabilization and/or corneal flattening. One patient experienced flattening of the cornea by 1.5 Diopters, comparable to the best results of the Avedro system. A limited animal study is currently underway to document that corneal cross-linking occurs in response to dietary riboflavin and UV exposure from the sun. This clinical study would expand the promising preliminary findings to a larger sample size. This has the potential to save millions of dollars in health care costs and ease the burden of treatment in patients who require therapy to induce corneal cross-linking to stabilize the cornea's shape.

So maybe patients with Keratoconus or astigmatism in general can at leat profit from hgher b2 supplementation by stopping corneal deformation-progress.
@Ella is the Keratoconus specialist here.

@LeeLemonoil kudos to this investigator. Yes I am well aware of this clinical trial. Amazing that 15 minutes of eye bathing can result in eye changing results. But hey, we are well aware of the sun's magical healing abilities. I have to reread the study again but did he use a control group to tease out if indeed B2 or whether without B2 we can see the same results?

This study only vindicates my own work as it pushes the research into the direction I have been advocating >40 yrs and changes the mindset, at least in the sufferer's view that it is not due to faulty genes. Hopefully though and truly doubt it, researchers will stop ******* looking for genes and focus on the obvious; Nutrition and Lifestyle - Hate to say it. Vindicated once again (punching the air)!! Dresden investigators can stick it up their backsides - Never in my life time, thought I would see such endeavour. The old guard is starting to fall - they can't pretend that they didn't know and if they do, goes to show what bozos and how corrupt they are. We trust these so-called "experts" with our health and livelihoods, duped into thinking they know it all. They only choose to know what suits their bank account.

Enough ranting. Now for an even more exciting endeavour from another ophthalmologist forced to dig deeper due his own corneal predicament. But before I continue, we need to ask the question; is it UVA or UVB which has the corneal restoring/reshaping ability? I have always had concerns over UVA and "they" are also starting to worry. Remember, UVA effects don't last, over time, the procedure needs to be repeated, thus becomes even more lucrative, that is if you don't end up being sued due to unforeseen complications. What are the long terms effects of repeated UVA treatment? What happens to these people as they age? Will the incident of diseases like macular degeneration increase in this population? Remember, dry form is nearly impossible to fix or reversed. Is there perhaps another vitamin that may address our concerns. I think so and it has always been in plain sight. Pun intended.

Dr Peat has expressed concerns over the toxicity of B2 which I also share. My question is, can we achieve the same results without the B2 toxicity issue?

Back to our ophthalmologist who was forced to look yonder a field. He describes keratoconus as the ocular version of “vitamin D-resistant rickets.”

Another question. Why had this ophthalmologist not known of Arthur Alexander Knapp's work with Vitamin D deficient and low calcium diets in dogs in the development of keratoconus way back in 1930s? When you think of the suffering this condition brings, it is simply unconscionable to think the optometry and ophthalmology schools would fail to ignore such monumental work and not include it in the curriculum. Perhaps a little inconvenient truth may encourage optometry undergraduates to pursue nutritional sciences; making their own profession less lucrative. Think of all those contact lenses fittings and changes. Contact lenses for KC are crazy expensive for a tiny bit of plastic. Even with the "Dresden" protocol, you are not going to be freed from contact lenses. You will be forced into more specialised fittings that command premium service fees. Where's the profit in vitamin D - sunshine is free.

The following article from Jonathan Wright.

The Almost-Forgotten Work of Dr. Arthur Alexander Knapp

From James McMillan's
Spectrum of Darkness, Agent of Light: Myopia, Keratoconus, Ocular Surface Disease, and Evidence for a Profoundly Vitamin D-dependent Eye
Monitoring Editor: Alexander Muacevic and John R Adler
James McMillan

1
Cureus. 2018 Jun; 10(6): e2744.
Published online 2018 Jun 5. doi: [10.7759/cureus.2744]

Remarkably, the ability to achieve improvement and even reverse keratoconus findings utilizing forms of vitamin D supplementation was also previously reported by Knapp in 1938 [28]. Lacking the benefit of computerized topography and structural analysis, he meticulously created life-casts of keratoconus-afflicted corneas. With the help of the New York University engineering and physics departments providing micrometer measurements, he demonstrated the flattening of the cones in all six of the subjects available for follow-up after six months of increased vitamin D supplementation. He was also able to show an overall decrease in corneal height in at least five of the six. No further progress based upon his findings appears to have been made until now. The re-discovery of keratoconus reversal with adequate D3 reported here was arrived at without any knowledge of Knapp’s work. His publications were uncovered during a subsequent search and review of historical literature.

Be sure to read the whole paper, very impressive not only for KC, which brings to mind
Dr. Cicero Galli Coimbra the Brazilian Neurologist, treating autoimmune conditions like MS.
Spectrum of Darkness, Agent of Light: Myopia, Keratoconus, Ocular Surface Disease, and Evidence for a Profoundly Vitamin D-dependent Eye

Vitamin D Metabolism and Function in the Cornea and Anterior Segment

I think finally there is ample evidence to start treating KC from a different perspective. Of noted interest is the treatment of identical twins. I am so glad he was able to include them into his treatment group.

Identical twins with differing natural sunlight exposure

A pair of 12-year-old, monozygotic twins presented for baseline examinations. One, a self-described four-season outdoor athlete, had no complaints and possessed uncorrected acuity of 20/20 in each eye and manifest refractions of the right eye (OD) +0.50 -0.25 x 85 and left eye (OS) +0.75 -0.25 x 93. Pentacam imaging revealed a very mild axial irregular astigmatism pattern, with an inferior-steep predominance (Figure (Figure1A). Her1A). Her sister, who preferred being indoors pursuing computer work and reading, was, by contrast, recently noticing a difficulty with her distance acuity (OD 20/20-1 and OS 20/25). Her manifest refractions were OD plano -0.50 x 83 and OS +0.75 -0.50 x 88. The Pentacam imaging also demonstrated irregular corneal asymmetry of the same general nature as that of her sister but substantially more pronounced (Figure (Figure1B). Over1B). Over the following year, both of the twins supplemented vitamin D3 at 2,000 to 3,000 IU per day (“frequently,” per their mother). At the follow-up examination, now age 13, neither reported any relative change in their time spent outdoors; however, decreased irregular astigmatism was found in all eyes and manifest refractions had converged on emmetropia: the "outdoor" twin: OD +0.50 – 0.75 x 85, OS +0.50 – 0.75 x 85, and her "indoor" sibling: OD plano -0.25 x 95, OS +0.25 – 0.25 x 90 (Figures (Figures1A1A--1B). While1B). While the refractive shifts are modest, correlation with topographical changes showing improved symmetry about the point of gaze and trend toward an idealized aspheric form is consistent with significant supplemental impact in both cases. The baseline studies furthermore support a differential effect of daylight exposure and presumed increased UVB-mediated vitamin D production upon the corneal shape and optical behavior in genetically identical individuals with otherwise similar environmental influences.

Now I have seen similar corneal changes with just the use of topical honey and reports as far back as the 1920s &30s report thyroid supplementation to reverse KC. No doubt B2 is essential along with other protective substances. The children and young people I worked with were lacking many protective substances but all I was permitted to recommend (by the gate keepers of the knowledge) was to eat a colourful diet.

What influence does Vitamin K play in all this? and interesting Vitamin D in combination with steriodal meds.

.....benefits may be amplified via synergistic interaction with topical corticosteroids, accelerating improvement in corneal shape and optics, substantially benefiting the control of ocular surface disease and dry eye symptoms, while, in addition, suggesting the suppression of the intraocular pressure “steroid response” in susceptible individuals.

Certainly like to see more research in this area.

 

[LeeLemonoil]

Thanks @Ella for yet another insightful post on this issue.
I wasn’t aware of the publication you linked to, and it’s from this year at that, very interesting.
I will take my time for careful reading all of it.

There are also trials going on in Oz or New Z., can’t remember right now, with steroidal and growth hormone ey drops for KC-treatment.
A bit of orthodoxy-breaking research is going on after all.

The „genetic“ dogma cannot be uphold any longer that much is obvious. And anybody who reads threads like this will irreversibly be infected by that knowledge

 

[LeeLemonoil]

Notwithstanding if B2 is really a crucial corneal nutrient: if so, there might be ways to avoid very high systemic doses by applying microemulsions with b2 as actives:
Potentiality of microemulsion systems in treatment of ophthalmic disorders: Keratoconus and dry eye syndrome - In vivo study. - PubMed - NCBI


Such emulsions seem reasonably easy to do oneself and are based on mct oil:
US Patent # 9,149,453. Microemulsion topical delivery platform - Patents.com