Inform Your Eye Doctors Of All Your Medications

By John Choi, MD

Chesapeake Retina Centers

More Vision & Eye Care Articles

Inform Your Eye Doctors Of All Your Medications

Did you know there can be many ocular side effects from drugs that you may be using for conditions unrelated to your eye condition? This is particularly the case with many retinal complications. It is impossible to list all potential drugs found to affect the eye continuously, but here are some of the more common drugs that are important to watch for:

Hydroxychloroquine is a drug used to treat many inflammatory and auto immune conditions. The medication builds up over the time that a patient is using the drug and can cause toxicity in the retina and damage the vision permanently. Patients need to be screened for this toxicity routinely to prevent vision loss.

Topiramate is a medication usually used to treat seizure disorders. The medication can cause swelling in the front parts of the eye and lead to large changes in glasses prescriptions and certain aggressive glaucomas.

Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors are commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction and can cause significant visual changes, some of which are reversible, such as color vision changes, redness of the eye, conjunctival hemorrhages, and central haze in the vision. There can be more serious side effects as well, such as strokes of the vessels in the retina and strokes of the optic nerve.

Fingolimod (Gilenya) is used to treat multiple sclerosis usually and can prevent flare-ups. But, it can also cause leakage from retinal blood vessels and edema in the eye.

Isoretinoin is a vitamin-A derivative that is most commonly used to treat various types of acne. It can also cause severe dry eyes, redness, corneal dryness and styes. Less commonly it can cause blind spots in the vision.

Tamoxifen is a chemotherapy most often used in treating breast cancer. Crystals can form in the retina and cornea, causing damage to these structures and vision loss. A hole in the central part of the vision can also develop (macular hole), requiring surgery.

Ethambutol is used to treat tuberculosis. It can also cause strokes of the optic nerve, color vision loss, and atrophy of the retina or optic nerve.

Cardiac drugs – Digoxin is used to treat irregular heartbeats and can cause blind spots, color vision loss, hazing of vision and flashes. Blood thinners such as Warfarin can cause uncontrolled hemorrhages and bleeding in any structure in the eye.

Most often the doctor prescribing the medication will alert the patient to all potential complications and where necessary set up screening visits and baseline visits with an eye doctor. You can also make sure no potential complication is missed by making sure your medication list is complete and current when you see your eye doctor. Many offices have the ability to update your medications online though a patient portal, allowing you to make sure dosages and medications are correct without having to bring all your medications in.

Your eye doctor can also help guide you to what frequency and what types of exams/tests need to be performed to try to catch side effects before they can damage your vision severely.