Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is a simple compound with a remarkable blend of therapeutic properties. Over the last year, I’ve compiled thousands of studies showing how it treats a wide range of conditions including:

Because of how effective DMSO was for a wide range of “incurable” conditions, after being discovered in the 1960s, DMSO quickly became the most demanded drug in the country — at which point the FDA did everything they could to suppress it.

The FDA succeeded, and DMSO’s incredible utility became largely forgotten. However, due to its remarkable efficacy and the extensive evidence corroborating its medical utility, once I brought attention to DMSO (in a post-COVID world where widespread skepticism exists towards the medical establishment), it rapidly went viral, and there is now a similar interest in DMSO to what was seen in the 1960s.

Because of this, I have now received over 5,000 reports from readers who’ve benefitted from DMSO¹ (which I compiled here), most of which match the effects typically attributed to DMSO (e.g., rapid healing from an injury or eliminating debilitating chronic pain). However, I also come across some that are quite extraordinary, such as this 75 year old man who regained sight in his eye after being blind since birth after using DMSO to eliminate a chronic sinus infection.

Murray’s story (and hundreds more I’ve received from readers) illustrates one of the least appreciated facets of DMSO — it is exceptionally well suited to treating a wide range of eye conditions — many of which are considered incurable within conventional medicine.

Note: The German DMSO community (including DMSO utilizing ophthalmologists) has also reported that DMSO has an extraordinary affinity for treating a wide range of eye conditions.

DMSO and the Eyes

Ophthalmologist Norbert J. Becquet, M.D. reported in May 1980 that he had great success using DMSO in treating cataracts and other eye problems. “I’ve treated two hundred patients in the last year for macular degeneration, macular edema, and traumatic uveitis.”²

Note: DMSO has been repeatedly shown to enhance the penetration of drugs into the eyes,^3,4,5,6 potentiate certain ocular medications (e.g., anesthetic eye drops⁷ or 5-IDU to treat shingles⁸) and authors have proposed using these combinations to enhance the efficacy of ophthalmologic medications and bypass the need to inject them into the eyes.⁹ Likewise, doctors like Norbert Becquet used topical DMSO nutraceutical combinations to treat otherwise “incurable” eye conditions.

DMSO’s uses for the eyes originally emerged after participants in early clinical trials noted that their vision frequently improved when an unrelated issue was being treated (due to DMSO’s tendency to concentrate within the eyes). Likewise, readers have repeatedly reported to me that vision significantly improves after DMSO is applied to another part of the body (e.g., the ankle).

Note: Due to the intense scrutiny DMSO was subjected to, its safety within the eyes was extensively studied — after which no one detected eye toxicity other than temporary irritation from higher doses applied directly to the eyes.

I will now review how DMSO’s therapeutic properties and its ability to travel through tissues make it suited to treat a wide range of disorders within the eyes.

Eye Inflammation

DMSO’s robust anti-inflammatory properties make it well suited for treating inflammation within the eyes. For example:

Note: DMSO has been repeatedly shown to treat a wide range of inflammatory and infectious conditions on the surface of the eyes.

Readers likewise have reported excellent results for uveitis, retinitis, and iritis:^{14,15,16,17,18}

“I used to struggle with uveitis and for years had synechia (adhesions) in my eyes related to my (now past rheumatoid arthritis).¹⁹ I used DMSO for a couple of months after your initial articles and haven’t had any bouts of uveitis since, despite engaging in the reading style that often triggers synechia induced spasms (and then iritis).

Since all my symptoms have resolved I stopped using steroid drops and haven’t had anyone look again for synechia that I finally don’t feel anymore … doesn’t seem like much of a point. I read for a living so I really enjoy using my eyeballs better.” — James Miller MD

Note: In chronically inflamed eyes, DMSO was found to decrease fibrin production.²⁰

“I had been dealing with recurring iritis in my right eye for about a year and a half.²¹ My ophthalmologist had prescribed prednisolone (steroid) drops which cleared up the symptom of cloudiness in my vision in that eye but it would always recur in a week or two. [After 2 months of DMSO applied to the eyes] my iritis is permanently gone now.

DMSO works better than dexamethasone for uveitis. It saved my sight and normalised my eye pressure.”²²

Note: In many cases, DMSO can also treat the underlying systemic autoimmune disorder that triggers eye inflammation.

Glaucoma and Intraocular Pressure

“I am 2 months into using 99.9% pharmaceutical grade DMSO for loss of vision due to glaucoma based on your article. I felt like I had nothing to lose since my vision in one eye was reduced to blurs. I haven’t been able to read letters in over two years with that eye. This week, I can now begin to see specific letters and numbers on my computer and the television screen.

I am still amazed that this is real. Sure, it burns like hell for about 15 seconds [as he used a high dose]. But that pales to the orbital bone pain from one of the 4 glaucoma eyedrops I used multiple times daily … not to mention the 2 surgeries.”²³

Glaucoma is peripheral vision loss resulting from optic nerve degeneration (the cause of which is unknown) that occurs in association with elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). As such, glaucoma is managed by lowering eye pressure (often with increasingly invasive methods) and hoping that this is enough to keep the vision loss at bay for the remainder of the patient’s life (which doesn’t always work). DMSO hence, is well-suited to addressing glaucoma as it:

For example, in rabbits, a DMSO-brinzolamide gel designed to treat glaucoma (as brinzolamide lowers IOP) effectively reduced intraocular pressure and showed no toxicity.²⁶ Likewise, in another rabbit study, DMSO alone was shown to effectively lower IOP:²⁷

Readers have also reported that DMSO improved or resolved their glaucoma,^{28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38} including in a cat.³⁹ I’ve found numerous online reports of DMSO rapidly reducing glaucoma pressure pain, or allowing patients to no longer need eye medications to control their IOP.

Floaters and Cataracts

Many complex diseases result from misfolded proteins clumping together and depositing in the body. Fortunately, DMSO’s unique ability to both stabilize normal protein folding and to dissolve pathologic protein deposits makes it able to treat a variety of challenging conditions (e.g., dozens of studies show DMSO treats amyloidosis).

In the case of the eyes, once proteins lose their normal shape, they often turn opaque and scatter light, impairing vision (e.g., this is what causes cataracts and floaters). As these proteins are within the eyes, it is often challenging to remove them (e.g., for cataracts, with surgery, the lens can typically be removed and replaced with an artificial cataract-free one, whereas floaters lack any widely accepted, low-risk treatment).

Since DMSO’s properties seem naturally indicated to treat cataracts, this has been extensively explored, with numerous doctors reporting at conferences^40,41 that they had a high rate of success treating cataracts with various DMSO combinations, and many online likewise reporting significant cataract improvement from various DMSO combinations (including DMSO authors working with the German ophthalmology community).

Conversely, I have seen virtually no mentions of floaters in the DMSO literature (with the few that did using the formal terminology, “vitreous opacities”).

Within the reports I’ve received, floaters have had a remarkable response to DMSO (far better than any other therapy I know of), with 27 readers sharing that DMSO improved or eliminated their floaters and only one stating it didn’t help. Additionally, in many cases, this improvement was an incidental occurrence (e.g., after DMSO was applied to the leg).^{42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68}

“I started DMSO maybe 4 months ago topically for muscle spasms and it’s amazing! I have not required a muscle spasm pill since I started.⁶⁹ I used to take 1 to 2 a day. It happens to have other huge advantages I was unaware of. My eyes no longer burn. I used to use eyedrops everyday. I no longer need them. I had several moderate eye floaters. My ophthalmologist told me it was age. Nothing could be done. Well … The floaters are GONE!”

After I shared this remarkable success rate with a colleague, he decided to test it and recently shared with me that:

“Ok so 1.5 weeks of ocular DMSO each day. My floaters are almost completely transparent and don’t block my vision anymore.⁷⁰ Visual blurring when fatigued is much less and if I do get it I can close my eyes for 5 mins and the sharpness is back. You’ve convinced me to try this on my patients.”

Likewise, to quote a DMSO using colleague:

“In one of the ladies in my trial for cataracts, while it’s too soon to say for that, her floaters that were present have completely vanished. So far, we are definitely seeing the greatest response to floaters.”

Note: I also received one report of DMSO being used for a vitreous detachment (after which there were less floaters and flashes, and the field of vision became much clearer).⁷¹

Likewise, numerous readers have reported success treating cataracts with DMSO,^{72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83} including in dogs,^84,85 with reports including:

“[4 months of DMSO] saved my husband from cataract surgery.”⁸⁶

“I have a diabetic dog that went blind from cataracts and have been giving him DMSO eye drops and it has cleared most of his eyes up and he can see again!”⁸⁷

“My January eye checkup showed cataracts, early stage glaucoma and peripheral vision loss. Monday’s (July) follow up all in normal ranges! She said keep doing what I’m doing.”⁸⁸

“I have been using DMSO eye drops for cataracts for several months and have seen a noticeable improvement in my vision.”⁸⁹

However, unlike floaters, I’ve noticed that about half of the readers report DMSO not improving their cataracts — which is likely due to how it’s applied, what DMSO is combined with, and the type of cataract present.

Note: Many DMSO users also report their eyes being much clearer and sharper — something I suspect results from DMSO removing opacities throughout the eyes which obstruct vision.

Focusing

“I used DMSO cream on my jawline at night and noticed my eyesight was noticeably better the next day. I kept using it daily and completely eliminated my eyeglasses — I’d worn them for 25 years. I no longer need glasses for reading OR driving.”⁹⁰

Many readers shared that after taking DMSO, their vision initially seemed worse — only to discover their eyes’ focusing ability had sharply improved, making their old prescription too strong, leading to them switching to weaker lenses or ditching glasses entirely. For example:

“I’ve always been near-sighted and was starting to need bifocals. One day I couldn’t see clearly through my reading glasses and thought my eyes were getting worse. Took them off — could suddenly read the smallest print perfectly. I’m 60 and have never needed reading glasses since.”⁹¹

“My husband’s eyesight was deteriorating fast — he’s 43 and already in bifocals. I was putting DMSO on his ingrown toenail 3x/day. In two weeks his eyes healed so much he only needs glasses for very close work now.”⁹²

“After reading the EENT article and successfully using DMSO to treat my patients, I noticed ghosting in my right eye. Put 2 DMSO drops in the affected eye before bed. Woke up — completely corrected. Still my go-to if anything feels off.”⁹³

“Near-sighted since teens (L -2.25, R -1.5), stable since early 20s. Used DMSO on my face on/off for 6 to 8 months. Contacts started irritating, went in expecting stronger Rx. New Rx: L -1.5, R -1.25. Optometrist was surprised!”⁹⁴

“Just had my annual eye exam. For the first time since I was a kid, my astigmatism is gone. Distance is 20/20 one eye, better than 20/20 the other. Happened really fast after starting DMSO — I was shocked.”⁹⁵

“My friend no longer needs her glasses to read texts on her phone after putting DMSO on her eyelids each night.”⁹⁶

Note: Many more readers have also reported improvements in focus.^{97,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111}

Additionally in most cases, I noticed the focusing issue that improved was nearsightedness and then discovered the German DMSO community had made the same observation.

Since nearsightedness results from the eye becoming longer and narrower, this suggests DMSO (a muscle relaxant) relaxes the muscle responsible for that motion (the ciliary muscle located at the front of the eye), and that our tendency to stare at screens all the time locks the muscle into a chronic state of tension.

Separately, DMSO’s ability to reduce fluid congestion within the eye (which lengthens and narrows the eye) may also play a role in DMSO’s ability to restore normal focusing, as does DMSO’s ability to loosen the fibrosis at the back of the eye, which locks in this near-sighted state (which, like its muscle relaxing properties, may explain why DMSO works so well with eye exercises).

Conclusion

DMSO’s ability to heal every single part of the eye (particularly the retina and optic nerve) is extraordinary. It has made me realize many eye conditions we are trained in medical school to view as largely incurable in reality have simple, gentle, and widely available options which can allow us to adapt to the incredible strain the modern electronic-focused world places upon the eyes.

I never expected to see blind eyes open again, floaters vanish in weeks, or 60-year-olds ditch bifocals they’d worn since childhood. Yet that’s exactly what readers keep reporting to me — hundreds of times now. It is astounding that simple knowledge like this, backed by decades of clinical use and thousands of suppressed studies, could be lost for two generations. But what’s even more incredible is that we are now in the one narrow window where it can suddenly sprout from the ashes.

The decades of dedicated research by the DMSO pioneers aren’t gathering dust anymore. They’re saving sight, one reader at a time. And nothing the authorities did in the 1960s can stop what’s happening right now.

Author’s Note: This is an abridged version of a longer article that discusses the evidence presented here in more detail along with how DMSO can be used with natural therapies to treat the conditions discussed in this article (e.g., floaters, cataracts, and nearsightedness) along with a variety of other eye disorders (e.g., macular degeneration, dry eyes, and chronic eye strain). That article, along with additional links and references, can be read here.

A Note from Dr. Mercola About the Author

A Midwestern Doctor (AMD) is a board-certified physician from the Midwest and a longtime reader of Mercola.com. I appreciate AMD’s exceptional insight on a wide range of topics and am grateful to share it. I also respect AMD’s desire to remain anonymous since AMD is still on the front lines treating patients. To find more of AMD’s work, be sure to check out The Forgotten Side of Medicine on Substack.