Symptoms of vitamin A deficiency include night-blindness and xerophthalmia. Night-blindness is an irreversible loss in the number of visual cells.

Xerophthalmia is a pathologic dryness of the conjuctiva and cornea that may lead to blindness.

Vitamin A deficiency can lead to acne and psoriasis. Retinoic acid or its derivatives can be used to treat acne and skin aging.

Increased beta-carotene in the diet can prevent chronic disease, by providing a decrease incidence of heart disease, decrease lung and skin cancer, and decrease cataracts and macular degeneration.