Ophthalmologists are sounding the alarm on a new trend that is popular on Tik Tok: the use of pure castor oil to treat vision problems and replace ophthalmological treatments.
- Castor oil is regularly recommended to promote hair growth.
- On TikTok, influencers claimed that castor oil could improve vision problems.
- This new trend is however very dangerous.
Highly recommended for beauty and health, castor oil has many benefits, particularly for the skin and scalp. Nicknamed “hair oil”, it is used in particular for its fortifying and nourishing action on the hair, beard, eyebrows and eyelashes. This natural product is also known to boost hair growth, by acting on micro-circulation in the scalp.
Castor oil in the eyes, a dangerous new practice
On TikTok, a new technique for using castor oil is advocated by many influencers. The latter squeeze castor seeds to make an oil which they then apply to the eyelids. This “miracle” recipe could, supposedly, improve eyesight and alleviate visual disturbances. A user of the social network claimed that she “would be beneficial for the eyes, as it improves blood circulation” and thus restored the vision.
An influencer, followed by 289,000 subscribers, also assured that she no longer needed to wear glasses as often to read after applying castor oil to her eyelids for two weeks.
These statements are not supported by health professionals. This use even worries many ophthalmologists.
Eye disorders: medications cannot be replaced by castor oil
In an interview given at NBCDr. Ashley Brissette, spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York (USA), recalled that castor oil is not an alternative to medication prescribed for visual disturbances. “Ignoring glaucoma medication, for example, can lead to permanent vision loss (…) Similarly, waiting to see if castor oil improves cataracts instead of opting for timely surgery could make it more difficult to remove and increase the risk of surgical complications”she warned.
According to Dr. Serge Doan, ophthalmologist in Paris, castor oil has no effect on the eye as it is placed on the eyelid. “If we reason, the oil does not act inside the eye. It remains on the surface of the eye. There is therefore no reason for it to correct the cataract (a clouding of the lens of the eye linked to aging, Editor’s note) or that it improves sight”noted the specialist interviewed by BFM TV. The latter specified that castor oil is an ingredient sometimes present in eye drops, which prevent dry eyes. But she is “used as a vehicle to dilute molecules that dissolve in oil” and prepared in such a way “sterile, with a very codified use, on prescription” unlike the recipe shared massively on TikTok.
