Poor Vision from Copper Deficiency.

PURPOSE: A dozen medical articles describe poor vision from copper deficiency. They are collected here along with some ideas about copper nutrition, epidemiology, patient evaluation and treatment.

RECENT FINDINGS: Clinical descriptions have been brief. Severe vision loss of a middle-aged woman improved from 20/400 to 20/25 with copper replacement for 10 months. The optimal chemical form, dose, duration or route of copper repletion are defined poorly. Copper gluconate is the preferred supplement; several mg of elemental copper usually should be given daily for months. Superoxide dismutase in erythrocytes is one of the more sensitive tests of deficiency.