Prescription drugs come with recommended doses for a very good reason , as one man recently discover out . The 31 - year - onetime was accommodate to an urgent care clinic with red - tinted imaginativeness two days after taking a little too much of the erectile - disfunction medication Viagra . The consideration , medic say , is irreversible .
Now , in a first - of - its - kind subject field led by Mount Sinai that is due to be publish in the journalRetinal Casesthis fall , researchers have confirm that high pane of sildenafil citrate ( sold under the brand name Viagra ) can damage your visual modality – and the effects can be permanent . ( erstwhile researchsuggested the drug could make lasting price to vision in mass with retinitis pigmentosa but it involved shiner models . )
" People subsist by the philosophy that if a piddling bit is good , a lot is better , " Richard Rosen , director of Retina Services at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai ( NYEE ) and lead detective , tell in astatement . " This study exhibit how dangerous a large dose of a commonly used medication can be . "
Rosen and his squad examined the retina of the 31 - year - honest-to-goodness human race to match for structural impairment powerful down to the cellular level ( apparently , a humankind first ) . To do this , they used an electroretinogram , optimum cohesiveness tomography ( OCT ) , and adaptative optics ( AO ) , which permit scientists canvas microscopical optic structures in extremely gamy detail in existent - time . This mean they were able to pinpoint areas showing microscopic hurt to the cones in the retina , the very cell essential for color vision .
So , what did they find ?
It was big . The human being ’s retina showed damage comparable to that found in animal models of hereditary retinal diseases wish , for exercise , cone - rod dystrophy – which was unexpected , the researchers say .
" [ I]t explain the symptoms that the patient suffered from , " Rosenadded . " While we know colored imaginativeness disruption is a well - describe side gist of this medicament , we have never been able to visualize the morphological effect of the drug on the retina until now . "
Before the experiment , the man accommodate to take much more than the recommended 50 - milligram dose of a liquid sildenafil citrate he had bought online , telling medics the symptoms get to appear very shortly post - uptake . However , he was n’t able to specify precisely how much he had taken – alternatively of using the measure out pipet include in the pack , he drink the solution direct from the bottle . He was afterward diagnosed with persistent retinal perniciousness .
While it is clearly a good melodic theme to bide by medically okay guidepost , even standard doses of sildenafil citrate can cause " optical disturbance " . ( Usually , cast the earth intoa slenderly blue – not reddish – haze . ) However , this should only be temporary and symptoms usually resolve themselves within 24 minute , the investigator say .
As for the 31 - year - old patient , it is one class on since his first diagnosis and his vision has not improved . Treatments have n’t helped and medics say the legal injury is irreversible .
