Every Nigerian home has its own version of medical wisdom — a set of remedies and beliefs passed down through families and communities, tested across generations, applied with genuine care. In most cases, the intention behind these practices is good. The love behind them is real. But good intentions and accurate information are not the same thing, and when it comes to the eyes, the gap between the two can have lasting consequences.
This article does not aim to mock or dismiss what Nigerian families have believed and practised. It aims to do something more useful — to look at the most common eye-related beliefs, examine what the science actually shows, and offer something more reliable than inherited assumption in their place.
“Breast milk can treat a baby’s eye infection”
The Science Says: No — and it can cause harm.
This is perhaps the most widespread eye-related home remedy in Nigeria, and it is applied with the best of intentions — breast milk is associated with nourishment, immunity, and maternal care. The logic seems reasonable: if breast milk protects the baby internally, perhaps it can help externally too.
The problem is that the eye is not the gut. While breast milk does contain antibodies and antimicrobial properties that benefit the digestive system, applying it to the eye introduces a warm, protein-rich fluid into a sensitive mucous membrane. This creates an environment in which bacteria — including those naturally present in breast milk — can thrive and multiply. Rather than resolving an infection, it can introduce new pathogens or worsen an existing one.
A baby with a red, discharging, or swollen eye needs to be assessed by a health professional. Neonatal eye infections can be caused by bacteria acquired during birth and require proper antibiotic treatment. The remedy that feels most natural is, in this case, the one most likely to delay the care that is actually needed.
“Wearing glasses will make your eyes weaker and more dependent on them”
The Science Says: False.
This belief is so pervasive that many Nigerians — including educated, otherwise health-literate adults — resist getting glasses long after they need them, convinced that wearing them will make their vision worse over time.
The truth is the opposite. Glasses do not change the eye itself — they simply correct the path of light entering it so that it focuses correctly on the retina. They do not weaken the eye’s muscles or alter its structure. The reason people feel their vision has deteriorated after starting to wear glasses is not that the glasses caused a decline — it is that once the brain experiences clear vision, it becomes less tolerant of blur. The comparison sharpens. The decline that was always there simply becomes more noticeable.
Not wearing needed glasses, particularly in children, carries a real risk — a condition called amblyopia, or lazy eye, can develop when the brain stops receiving clear signals from one or both eyes and begins to suppress them. In this sense, resisting glasses does not protect the eye. It exposes it.
“Putting urine, plantain root juice, or herbal concoctions in the eye can treat infections and redness”
The Science Says: This is dangerous and can cause permanent damage.
We have seen the consequences of this belief in clinical practice — corneal ulcers, chemical burns, severe infections, and in some cases irreversible vision loss, all resulting from substances applied to the eye in the sincere belief that they would help.
The eye is one of the most sensitive and vulnerable organs in the body. Its surface — the cornea — is made of transparent tissue with no blood supply of its own, relying on tear fluid and surrounding structures to maintain its health. Introducing foreign substances, particularly those with high acidity, alkalinity, or microbial content, directly onto this surface causes chemical and biological damage that the eye has very limited capacity to repair.
A red or discharging eye needs clean hands, a clean environment, and a qualified eye care professional. It does not need a remedy from the kitchen or the compound.
“Reading in dim light permanently damages your eyesight”
The Science Says: False — but it does cause discomfort.
This is the eye myth most commonly deployed against children doing homework by candlelight or phone light — and it is understandable, given the conditions under which many Nigerian households must function. But the science is clear: reading in low light does not cause any permanent damage to the eye or alter its structure in any lasting way.
What it does cause is eye strain. The pupil dilates in low light, the focusing muscles work harder to resolve fine detail, and the eye fatigues more quickly. The result is temporary discomfort, blurred vision, and headaches — all of which resolve with rest. There is no evidence that this repeated strain causes permanent refractive change or structural damage.
That said, adequate lighting is still worth advocating for — not because dim light damages the eye, but because the strain it causes is unnecessary and makes sustained learning significantly harder.
“Losing your sight as you get older is simply what happens — there is nothing to be done”
The Science Says: In many cases, this is wrong.
Of all the beliefs on this list, this one may carry the heaviest cost — because it leads people to accept vision loss as inevitable and to delay or never seek care that could restore or preserve their sight.
The Nigeria National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey found that 84% of blindness in Nigeria is due to avoidable causes. The leading cause — responsible for 43% of all blindness — is cataract, which is surgically treatable. Uncorrected refractive errors, which cause the majority of visual impairment, are addressable with glasses. Glaucoma, when detected early, can be managed to prevent further vision loss.
Age does bring genuine changes to the eye — the lens stiffens, near focus becomes harder, and the risk of certain conditions increases. But the fatalism that surrounds vision loss in older Nigerians — the quiet acceptance that “my eyes are just old now” — is costing people decades of functional sight that could have been preserved or restored.
Declining vision deserves investigation, not resignation.
A Final Word on Tradition and Truth
The beliefs examined in this article were not invented carelessly. They emerged in communities where professional eye care was inaccessible, where the knowledge passed between generations was the only knowledge available, and where people did the best they could with what they had. That context deserves acknowledgement.
But access to information has changed. The knowledge that can protect sight — and the services that can restore it — exist and are increasingly within reach. The most powerful thing a family can pass down about eye health is no longer a remedy. It is a question: when did any of us last have our eyes properly checked?
That question, asked and answered regularly, does more for a family’s vision than any tradition ever could.