Thanks to all in answer to my question re finding vitalux- still looking, but today I'm planning to look in some heavy duty pharmacies near me. In relation to the question of beta carotene- is it beta carotene that is the problem or vitamin A or both? What about vitamin A in fish liver oil? Is the Vitalux still effective for floaters without the beta carotene? Thanks, Sandy In a message dated 8/2/2005 11:44:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: So, beta-carotene becomes oxidized, and then it is restored by vitamin E which becomes oxidized, and that is restored by Vitamin C, then by alpha-lipoic acid, etc. In theory, what happens when you smoke is that the vitamin A, being one of the first links in the chain, gets overwhelmed and the chain is broken. There is too much oxidized A for the next link in the chain to deal with, and the oxidized A causes just as much, perhaps more, damage than the smoke would on its own. Short answer: eat plenty of beta-carotene and DO NOT SMOKE!