Can biotin intake cause excessive tears in the eyes?

Question

Hello doctor,

For the past 17 years of my life, I had perfect eyes. I had a slight sinus allergy but nothing else. During high school I took a 500 mg Biotin pill in hopes to stimulate hair growth and the next day my eyes began to tear excessively. The following day my right eye stopped but my left eye continued. It has been almost two and a half years now and my left eye waters excessively to the point people think I am crying. This ordeal is really depressing. Especially, since I have been to four eye specialists and they are not able to help me. One said I had dry eyes, other said I had blocked tear duct, and other said I do not blink. I am currently on Restasis and still no improvement. Please help. This may sound foolish but could it have been the pill? If so is there something I can do or take to reverse it?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

First of all, do not get depressed. Depression leads to a lot of other serious health issues. Now coming to your problem, I do not think your problem is related to Biotin use (at least not directly). Biotin is a vitamin, part of vitamin B-complex, which is required for many things (i.e. its deficiency in the body leads to a lot of problems). If you have taken antibiotics for a long time then you might have had a biotin deficiency. This deficiency might have resulted in conjunctivitis, which may cause excessive tearing of eyes. And the treatment is regular supplements of vitamin A and B complex. The other cause and this is one of the most common causes is a blocked nasolacrimal duct. See allergies often leads to swelling of tissues around it and thus the ducts get blocked. When the allergies resolve the ducts open by themselves. But sometimes infection or some other cause may keep it blocked. Thus causing excessive tearing. I do not think other causes of excessive tearing are relevant in your case. You should get your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist. Ask him/her especially to check for nasolacrimal duct blockage. Alternatively, you can also do a warm massage. Massage your part of the nose, on the side of the eye in which excess tearing is there, from the portion near eye to downwards 1 cm for 10 minutes every few hours, if possible with a warm cloth. This might relieve your blockage to some extent. Take care not to injure yourself. I hope this helps.