Teenager suffers blindness after unhealthy diet of fries, crisps

He was severely malnourished from his eating disorder

A teenager suffered irreparable loss of vision after a decade-long diet of fries, crisps and other processed foods, reported BBC News.

The 17-year-old had been eating only crisps, fries, white bread and occasionally ham or sausage, which led to his vision deteriorating to the point of blindness.

Tests revealed that he had severe vitamin deficiencies – including B12, copper, selenium and vitamin D – and malnutrition damage.

At the age of 14, he visited his general physician as he was feeling unwell. He was diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency but did not improve his poor diet, which worsened his condition.

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Three years later he was taken to the Bristol Eye Hospital and his doctor said, “His diet was essentially a portion of chips from the local fish and chip shop every day. He also used to snack on crisps and sometimes slices of white bread and occasional slices of ham, and not really any fruit and vegetables.

"He explained this as an aversion to certain textures of food that he really could not tolerate, and so chips and crisps were really the only types of food that he wanted and felt that he could eat."

The boy was severely malnourished from his eating disorder – avoidant restrictive food intake disorder – and met the criteria for being registered blind which affected his ability to drive, read and watch television.

He was diagnosed with Nutritional Optic Neuropathy – nerve fibers in the optic nerve die and the damage becomes permanent.