A leading optometrist in the Upper West Region, Dr. Zakaria Al-Hassan Baluri, has warned against the use of breastmilk for curing eye sicknesses.

According to a report by CitiNews, Dr. Zakaria Al-Hassan noted that many children are brought to the clinic with serious eye complications after parents resort to home remedies rooted in long-held traditional beliefs.

He explained that breast milk contains no component capable of treating any eye condition.

“But we don’t know any antibiotic in breast milk. Most of what is happening to the children is due to infection, and breast milk has no antibiotics to treat it. So definitely, what are you putting in? You are doing nothing. Rather, it will cause more havoc,” he warned.

The Optometrist made this known to the media after a tour of it new Bliss Eye Care office building at the Wa Municipality on Monday, November 24, 2025.

He advised parents to consult qualified eye specialists whenever their children show symptoms like redness, discharge, itching, or vision problems

“Early recognition and early treatment are key. The eye is delicate, and once damage is done, reversing it is often difficult,” he emphasised.

Dr. Baluri also stressed the importance of teaching communities about proper eye care, noting that many people still believe eye problems are caused by spiritual forces instead of medical issues that need professional attention.

With more preventable eye infections occurring, he urged health officials, the media, and local leaders to step up awareness efforts to keep children safe from practices that could harm their eyesight.

In 2023, President of the Ophthalmologist Society of Ghana, Dr. Dzifa-Bella Ofori-Adjei, cautioned against the use of eye drops as treatment for glaucoma.

She says eye drop is not a remedy to glaucoma. Rather, they are meant for the medical management of the disease to prevent its progression.

Speaking on the GTV Breakfast Show, she stated that some patients get discouraged from the daily administration of eye drops without being healed.

“You put the drops in the eye every single day, and that is the difficulty for people. The drops do not cure the disease. It does not bring back the lost vision. It maintains the vision you have,” she explained.

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness by damaging a nerve in the back of your eye called the optic nerve.

Dr. Ofori-Adjei also stated that Ghana has one of the highest prevalences of glaucoma, adding that a 2015 study showed that blindness in one out of five people is caused by glaucoma.

She made these statements to mark World Glaucoma Week (March 12–18, 2023). She encouraged Ghanaians to have their eyes checked at the hospital to aid in early detection and slow the progression of glaucoma.

Her emphasis on health awareness ties into other public conversations about misinformation on the human body.

UK-based Ghanaian artiste, Stephanie Benson, has debunked the belief that breast-sucking can prevent breast cancer and related diseases. She clarified that the notion, which has circulated in the minds of some Ghanaians, allowing men to suck women's breasts even if they don't enjoy it, is not based on scientific evidence.

Stephanie Benson emphasized that there is no scientific data to support the claim that breast-sucking can prevent cancer, and she finds it nonsensical to entertain such a narrative. This statement came in response to a question about whether breast-sucking by men can prevent breast cancer and whether there is any scientific validation for such a belief.

During an interview with Okay FM she said,I get very angry when I hear it. I joke all the time on my page. We need to stop it, there are certain things you just don’t mess with. Whoever started that narrative needs to stop it. It’s never true [sucking boobs prevent breast cancer], how can it be? If you say sexual pleasure sucking, how?” she quizzed.

Stephanie Benson went ahead to urge the general public to disregard such a narrative because it has not been proven scientifically yet.

“If that is real why do we have radiotherapists? This is ridiculous! It prevents what? I don’t get it. It is the most irresponsible thing for anybody to say. Because some women are allowing the men to suck the breast even if they don’t enjoy it and that’s almost a rape.

“There are people who want somebody to suck it even if they don’t want to. I don’t understand, it makes no sense to me. So please that narrative should be stopped. It makes no sense scientifically at all,” Stephanie Benson said.