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Can using castor oil in your eyes help improve vision and other eye conditions? According to a recent TikTok, the answer is yes—but experts are warning not to believe everything you see on the social media site.
The new claim appears to come from a TikTok user who had been using castor oil for 14 days at the time of her video, which shows her rubbing castor oil on her eyelids, eyelashes, and under-eye area.
“Don’t worry about it getting in your eye, it will get in your eye a little bit, and that’s good,” she told viewers, “because it reduces inflammation and improves blood flow to the eye.”
According to the TikTok user, the castor oil results are real: Before starting the regimen, she “used to have to wear glasses” while reading. “Now I’m able to read more without my glasses,” she said, “which should say a lot.”
Other TikTok users have jumped on the castor oil for eyesight bandwagon as well—the hashtag #castoroilforeyesight has gotten more than three million views. Other videos also claim castor oil can get rid of eye floaters and even glaucoma.
But is there any truth to these claims about castor oil and eyesight or eye health? Here’s what to know.
Castor oil isn’t necessarily new. The type of vegetable oil—made by cold-pressing seeds of the castor bean plant—is commonly used to relieve dry eye and ease constipation. It’s found in many personal care products, including soaps, cosmetics, and hair and skin products.
Though it’s claimed that castor oil may help improve vision or other eye conditions like cataracts on TikTok, experts say there isn’t research available to back that information.
“Castor oil is a natural antioxidant which can, in theory, help prevent progression of cataracts but there are no studies strong enough to support this claim,” said Vivian Shibayama, OD, an optometrist with UCLA Health, told Health. “Cataracts are a result of age and antioxidants help prevent aging.”
Mina Massaro-Giordano, MD, a professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed that castor oil may help to slow down the progression—but not reverse—cataracts, but said there is “no way [castor oil] improves your vision to change your refractive error.” Shibayama agreed: “I don’t think putting castor oil on your eyelids can improve your vision.”
Castor oil is also unlikely to have an effect on floaters, said Massaro-Giordano—and any potential anecdotal benefits are linked more to adding moisture to the eyes. “Maybe if your eyes, you won’t see floaters as much,” she said.
And though castor oil has been studied as an ingredient in treatments for glaucoma, it’s used as an agent to help deliver the medication rather than as a treatment on its own.
Castor oil is unlikely to help improve vision or reverse cataracts, but it may be helpful for eyes in other ways, including as a treatment for dry eye and blepharitis (inflammation of the eye), and potentially to promote eyelash and eyebrow growth.
According to Shibayama, castor oil is naturally anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial. “It also improves the stability of your tear film by reducing evaporation,” she said, which can help with dry eye by keeping eyes moisturized.
The anti-inflammatory effects of castor oil may also be helpful for blepharitis. A small 2020 study of 26 people found that those who used a 100% cold-pressed castor oil formulation on the base of one eyelid twice a day for four weeks saw an improvement in blepharitis-related symptoms. According to researchers, “castor oil demonstrates promise as a potential treatment for blepharitis.”
Castor oil’s effects on blepharitis may also help with eyelash growth. “If you take care of inflammation of the eyelid, you will have healthier eyelashes,” said Massaro-Giordano, who is also co-director of the Penn Dry Eye & Ocular Surface Center. But it’s unknown if castor oil will help eyelash growth in people who don’t have blepharitis. There’s also no research that suggests castor oil helps eyebrow growth, Massaro-Giordano added.
Castor oil is generally safe to use, even around the eye area. “A lot of my patients use castor oil,” Massaro-Giordano said.
The exception here is using the oil in your eyes. “For the eyelid margin, it is relatively safe to use,” Shibayama said. “[But] I wouldn’t use anything that is not formulated for the eyes inside the eyes.”
Importantly, Massaro-Giordano said if you’re going to use castor oil near your eyes, you need to use the right kind. “If patients ask me, I say to make sure it’s a purified, sterile form of castor oil that’s hexane-free,” she said. It’s also important not to use castor oil near the eyes when you have contacts in, since the oil could leave a film on them, Shibayama said.
And though castor oil is largely tolerable, according to Massaro-Giordano, some people may have an allergic reaction to the ingredient, or they may just not like the feel of it near their eyes. “Some people just can’t tolerate it,” she said.
If you’re interested in using castor oil for anything that it might help alleviate—like dry eye or blepharitis—the best route is to talk to an eye doctor before testing it out. They may have more specific recommendations on how to use castor oil or which type to buy, or they may suggest another treatment entirely.
