Relationship between hemorrhagic ocular diseases and vitamin C deficiency: clinical and experimental data.

The hematic level of ascorbic acid was significantly lower with respect to that of healthy subjects in 55 patients with hemorrhagic ocular diseases. Experiments on albino guinea pigs showed that an induced hypovitaminosis C (2 weeks of scorbutigenic diet followed by a maintenance dose of 0,5 mg of ascorbic acid) caused the appearance of widespread retina hemorrhages and a significant decrease of the blood ascorbate levels with respect to the control groups. The present results suggest that a prolonged insufficient dietary intake of ascorbic acid may give rise to hemorrhagic ocular pathologies in humans.