A man suddenly went blind in one eye after taking Viagra — and doctors think the erectile dysfunction remedy could be to blame.
The 32-year-old, from Iran, took a bumper dose of sildenafil, the main ingredient in the little blue pill.
He lost sight in his right eye almost immediately afterwards.
Despite efforts to restore his vision, the damage was too extensive and he has now lost all vision in that eye.
Medics from Tehran, who shared the unidentified man’s case in a journal, said it was some of the strongest evidence that taking the drug could harm the eyes.
This scan shows the damage the blockage of blood vessels caused to the 32-year-old man’s right eye
Sildenafil combats impotence by boosting blood flow to the penis through relaxing the blood vessels.
However, it is thought this effect could, in some circumstances, inadvertently harm other sensitive vessels in the body, such as those in the eyes.
In the most recent case, the man suffered the sudden loss of vision three hours after taking 100mg of sildenafil.
This is the maximum dose of the drug and double that recommended for most men who take it for erectile dysfunction.
After losing vision in his eye the man attended hospital and informed medics he taken sildenafil.
Scans found the man, who had no other medical complaints, had suffered clots in both the artery and vein that transferred blood to and from his right eye.
This resulted in swelling of his retina — the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the organ.
He also suffered from macular edema, a condition where blood leaks into the retina.
Doctors at Farabi Eye Hospital said the pressure from this fluid build up eventually led to the retina physically detaching from the rest of his eye.
Due to concerns about blood clot risks from Covid vaccines and the virus itself at the time, doctors quizzed him about any recent infections or jabs.
However, he had neither been recently infected nor vaccinated.
Investigations also found his left eye was undamaged.
Medics also noted he had no family history of blood clot issues that could explain the sudden damage to his eye and tests for any undiagnosed conditions came back negative.
The medics said that while eye and vision problems had been reported from taking sildenafil, the link between the two is ‘controversial’.
Iranian medics have speculated the man’s sudden loss of vision in his right eye could be a result of taking an erectile dysfunction medication (stock image)
‘Several serious retinal vascular accidents have been reported following sildenafil use but the exact role of this medication is not clear,’ they wrote.
They added that their patient was significant in medical literature discussing the link due to both the severity of the case and the fact he had no other health conditions that could explain the sudden eye problem.
‘Since the patient was otherwise healthy without known risk factors for vascular disease… and in addition the close temporal relation between sildenafil intake and incidence of the disease, we speculated that the drug could play a causal role in this clinical scenario,’ they wrote.
However, they acknowledged the exact mechanism for how sildenafil may damage blood vessels in the eye is unknown.
One theory is that the drug’s intended effect of boosting blood flow to the penis may inadvertently risk of damaging sensitive blood vessels in the eye through the same mechanism.
However, the authors added that how exactly the drug interacts with eye vessels is likely to be a ‘complex’.
They called for further investigations into the potential link, particularly for younger men.
Sharing the tale in in the Journal of Medical Case Reports medics did not reveal exactly when the incident occurred.
Earlier this year Indian doctors reported a case where a 41-year-old man died after suffering a stroke while taking a combination of the impotence pills and alcohol.
Sildenafil is an over-the counter-medication in the UK, meaning it can be purchased without a prescription.
A sudden decrease or loss of vision is listed as a potential rare side effect of sildenafil in leaflets distributed with the drug.
The NHS says serious side effects from taking sildenafil only occur in one in 1,000 people who take the medication.
However, it adds that anyone taking the drug that suffers this side effect should stop taking it straight away and call your doctor or the NHS 111 number.
While the ‘little blue pill’ is most famous as a medication for erectile dysfunction it also given to patients suffering from pulmonary hypertension a condition where blood pressure in the blood vessels supplying the lungs is dangerously high.
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