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Editorial Open Access
Volume 1 | Issue 1 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.33696/Ophthalmology.1.003

Mega-Dose Dietary Riboflavin in Treatment in Keratoconus, Post-Refractive Cornea Ectasia and Migraine. Has Its Time Arrived?

  • 1Department of Ophthalmology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
+ Affiliations - Affiliations

*Corresponding Author

John Steven Jarstad, drjarstad@gmail.com

Received Date: July 17, 2021

Accepted Date: July 21, 2021

Editorial

Recently, several studies and investigators have shown the beneficial effects of high dose dietary riboflavin (vitamin B2) in the treatment of keratoconus, post-refractive (LASIK, PRK & Radial Keratotomy) ectasia (with sunlight exposure) and patients treated with our own protocol (NIH Clinical Study – www.clinicaltrials.gov - # NCT 03095235) discovered significant relief for intractable migraine headaches and/or ophthalmic migraine (classic migraine visual symptoms without headache).

The combination of 400 mg of dietary riboflavin supplements, along with 15-30 minutes of walking briskly (increases oxygenation of the cornea) facing toward the sun between 10 am and 2pm, has shown equivalent results to commercial AVEDRO cornea cross-linking in multiple patients who were suffering from keratoconus [1]. This treatment appears equally effective compared with the more expensive traditional commercial cornea crosslinking but requires a 3 to 6 month course of treatment – as opposed to the immediate results of Avedro crosslinking [2].

We also recommend the same treatment as adjunctive therapy for younger patients and pregnant women who are prone to regression after commercial Avedro cornea cross-linking.

We discovered the migraine curing side effect of our cornea treatment protocol when patients taking 400 mg of dietary riboflavin for keratoconus began to report that they no longer suffered from migraine symptoms during their 3 month cornea follow up appointments. Now with over 100 study patients noting relief, if not a cure for their migraine headaches, we have adopted this new form of therapy as a treatment option for all our ophthalmic and classic migraine patients.

Because of the success in some locations, Riboflavin capsules have been impossible to find over the counter in any pharmacies and patients must order from suppliers such as Nutricost.com where a 120 day supply that is gluten and GMO free can be purchased or from Walmart, Bestville, Nature’s Way, Integrated Therapeutics and others at a cost of $2.75 to $5.00 per month.

Whilst both keratoconus and migraine have often been unresponsive to prior traditional medical therapies and are often intractable, it is encouraging to find an inexpensive alternative or adjunctive therapy that with further studies may confirm successful relief and improve the lives of our patients with few side effects.

References

1. Jarstad JS, Nguyen VD. High-Dose Dietary Riboflavin and Direct Sunlight Exposure in the Treatment of Keratoconus and Post-Refractive Surgery Ectasia of the Cornea. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons, May 16-17, 2020. www.ascrs.confex.com.

2. Kent C. Cross-linking 2020: Closer to the Holy Grail. Review of Ophthalmology. 2020 Oct 6;(10):38-48.

3. Talebian A, Soltani B, Banafshe HR, Moosavi GA, Talebian M, Soltani S. Prophylactic Effect of Riboflavin on Pediatric Migraine: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebocontrolled Trial. Electron Physician. 2018 Feb;10(2):6279-85.

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