This blog post weaves together my, and my son’s, vision issues with insights on how nutrition can drastically improve vision and eye health. I’ve updated this blog over the years based on new layers of experience, the highlights of which include nearightedness, retinitis pigmentosa, and my son’s spontaneous retinal detachment as a young teen.
Spontaneous retinal detachment in my teen
As Gregorio and I were eating dinner one Sunday evening in April 2026, he told me his vision went blurry in his left eye. A couple of minutes later, he told me everything suddenly went dark. Even through the confusion of the moment, I knew his retina must have detached. At the hospital, he went through a battery of exams, and the surgeon told us that he had an almost completely detached retina and that he wasn’t sure he would be able to save Gregorio’s lens. A doctor took the measurements needed in case an artificial lens became necessary during the surgery.
Gregorio was surprisingly grounded and courageous through the entire process, and he go through the surgery with local anesthesia and sedation rather than the more aggressive general anesthesia.
Once we got home after surgery, with a complicated schedule of administration of three different types of eyedrops and recommendations for him to remain prone for 72 hours after the surgery, I researched how to support healing of his retina and to prevent a cataract.
Here’s part of the resulting list:
- high-quality sunglasses
- wide-brimmed hat
- citrus
- bell peppers (especially yellow, red, orange)
- chestnuts/chestnut flour
- potatoes
- strawberries
- kiwi
- eggs
- corn
- sweet potatoes
- cantaloupe
- carrots
- almonds
- walnuts
- peanuts
- avocado
- sunflower seeds
- salmon
- Ingredients for chicken stock
Gregorio was very happy with my grocery haul, and with the resulting meals. It’s really fun to apply the findings of nutrition research by preparing and eating delicious food. And don’t worry, we did not eat the sunglasses or the hat, which are exclusively for eye protection when he’s exposed to sunlight. 🙂
As I write this, Gregorio is a few weeks into post-surgery healing, and he graduated early from check-ups with the surgeon because he made as much progress in just over two weeks post-surgery as patients typically make in 2 months! The surgeon was so impressed with how great his retina and lens looked that he called in his colleagues in the eye surgery department so they could also see Gregorio’s amazing progress. He even got to stop the eye drops early.
I am confident that he will have good long-term outcomes.Â
Improving vision as an adult
In July 2018, I went to the eye doctor after a few weeks of having some weird-for-me vision issues. My glasses weren’t working as well as I was used to. Additionally, I felt as though I could see better without them than with them. Even worse, I was getting headaches and not reading well while wearing my glasses.
The optometrist told me that I needed to change my glasses. “Your prescription is much too strong,” she told me. This is something no optometrist ever said to me before. In fact, I’ve worn glasses since I was four, after serially crashing into obvious-to-the-rest-of-the-world objects on my bike which I didn’t see in time.
For me, eye doctor appointments have typically been disheartening and discouraging. Usually, they were filled with pronouncements about my bad vision: lazy left eye, astigmatism, visual field defects, retinitis pigmentosa, and premature macular degeneration…
Words are powerful, and the way eye doctors, teachers and acquaintances described my vision in the past definitely affected my self-image and even, to some extent, my view of the world. Here are some unforgettable phrases:
- your retina is so damaged it looks like it’s sprinkled with pepper
- you don’t drive, do you, honey?
- your visual field is severely limited
- you’re just one step away from being legally blind in your left eye
Over time, I grew so used to being told how poor my vision was that it hardly crossed my mind that it might improve. While some people dread going to the dentist, I typically dreaded going to the eye doctor.
Vision Exams Can Feel Invasive
When I was in my mid-twenties, I was detained at my eye exam for several hours, a throng of optometry students ooh-ing and aah-ing over how messed up my retina was for someone so young. I felt like a circus freak.
So it was refreshing when I finally experienced some positivity from the optometrist in 2018, who declared my vision quite good for someone with my history.
Reversing retinal damage
“What have you done?”
During my 2020 follow-up with the retinal specialist, I was happy to learn that the amazing improvements had continued, and that my visual field was completely normal! This was shocking, since I was told almost two decades earlier that my retinal pigmentation had compromised my visual field so much that I shouldn’t drive a car and that I should expect the issue to progress until I became blind.
The specialist was even more shocked than I was. She sat me down and asked me what study I’d signed up for without her knowledge. I was confused and explained that I wasn’t participating in any study. She told me that the improvements in my retina went counter to everything she’d learned and to all of her clinical experience. “What have you done to improve your retinal health so much?”
I thought about it a bit and explained that it really must have been an accidental byproduct of general nutrition support I was doing.
What improves vision?
When I experienced these unexpected improvements, I wondered what might have caused this positive shift. Although eye health has always an ongoing health concern, I hadn’t really ever gotten around to doing anything specific for my eyes. Instead, I’d done quite a bit of bio-individual nutritional therapy focused on balancing minerals and fat-soluble vitamins, improving nutrient absorption, and addressing long-term past mercury exposure. Additionally, connective tissue health has been a central focus of my nutrition during the years leading up to these unexpected vision improvements.
Not everyone with retinitis pigmentosa will be able to improve their visual field as much as I have. How much you can improve depends on the underlying cause and the contributing factors. But this experience has absolutely confirmed the incredible power of individualized nutrition to catalyze the body’s innate ability to rebalance and heal itself.
Eye support for people with connective tissue problems
Gregorio and I have a hereditary connective tissue disorder, which affects structure and function in various body systems. Because the eyes are largely connective tissue, my hard work in this area brought results for my vision. Of course, due to the bio-individual nature of my symptoms and triggers, I’ve learned to tailor my nutrition and lifestyle regimen over time to my dynamic needs.
When I support clients who need connective tissue support, I recommend different things to different people. But with eye issues, one of the best connective tissue support is broth made with the whole (small-ish) animal, including the head, vertebrae, skin, and feet. Whole-chicken stock, oxtail soup, and whole-rabbit stock are among my favorites.
For me, eating a colorful diet rich in diverse plant foods of many colors and consuming sufficient pre-formed vitamin A has been part of a long-term, bio-individualized and big-picture approach to my health.
Why Bio-Individual Nutritional Therapy Works Best
Are you struggling with vision problems and wondering what you should do next?
Beyond broths made with the whole animal, including the eyes, as I mentioned above, there are a couple of other general points to keep in mind.
- Is your diet sufficient in pre-formed vitamin A?
- Are you consuming a diet rich in eye-supporting nutrients, lutein and zeaxanthin? Read more here.
- Rule out exposure to mercury and other heavy metals, which can adversely affect eye health.
- Rule out copper dysregulation, which can affect retinal health.
Contact me for a complimentary discovery call today!
If you are struggling with functional health problems, don’t try to resolve them all on your own! As a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner with extensive training and clinical experience, I would love to help you reach your goals. You can set up your discovery call here.
And if you’re a holistic healthcare practitioner wanting to support clients with complex health issues, including eye conditions, I’d love to mentor you. Schedule a time to talk with me about your needs and goals here.