Erectile dysfunction pills can permanently distort vision

Erectile dysfunction pills can permanently distort vision

By Hannah Frishberg

This article is a repost which originally appeared on the NEW YORK POST

This little blue pill is giving men a big blue — or sometimes red — problem: colored vision.

Erectile dysfunction drugs can lead to prolonged retinal dysfunction, a new case study published Friday in the journal Frontiers in Neurology found.

“Sildenafil, also known as the little blue pill or Viagra, is a common medication for men who need a little downstairs perk-me-up,” begins a press release for the report, published by Turkey’s World Eye Hospital, “but Turkish researchers noted a pattern of male patients whom (sic) took the pill suffering from all sorts of visual disturbances.”

Study authors report patients experienced blurred vision, light sensitivity and color-vision disturbances, including “intensely blue colored vision with red/green color blindness” after taking the highest recommended dose of Sildenafil, which was originally developed as a treatment for high blood pressure.

“For the vast majority of men, any side effects will be temporary and mild” after taking Sildenafil, says study author Dr. Cüneyt Karaarslan. “However, I wanted to highlight that persistent eye and vision problems may be encountered for a small number of users.”

In the 17 case reports included in the study, all men were still experiencing side effects when they arrived at the clinic 24 to 48 hours after taking the drug. For some, the symptoms required 21 days to clear up, although in past case studies, patients’ vision has been found to be forever changed.

“He definitely showed some permanent damage to his vision,” ophthalmologist Dr. Richard Rosen tells CNN of a 31-year-old who began seeing red after he took a high dose of an ED medication. The man was the subject of a case report co-authored by Rosen and published in 2018.

Karaarslan believes the side effects are due to a small subsection of men being unable to break down the enhancement drugs. The reason the eye is impacted is not fully understood, Rosen tells CNN, but has something to do with a pair of sister enzymes. One of the enzymes is found in blood vessel walls and can affect the other enzyme, which helps process light within the eye. The one that impacts blood vessel walls is inhibited by the drug’s active ingredient.

“No one knows exactly how this happens,” says Rosen. “We just know there’s a crossover.”

5 healthful living factors extend disease-free life

According to a new study, a combination of healthful lifestyle choices, such as maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, and regularly exercising, can significantly extend the number of years that an individual avoids disease.

On average, we are living longer lives; however, as people grow older, many live with diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. As lifespan extends, so does the risk of developing chronic illnesses.

Scientists have firmly established that lifestyle factors can make a significant difference to the risk of disease and length of life, overall. These factors include physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, and weight.

The authors explain that “[s]tudies have shown that smoking, inactivity, poor diet quality, and heavy alcohol consumption contribute up to 60% of premature deaths and 7.4–17.9 years’ loss in life expectancy.”

Although this is well known, little research has examined how a combination of lifestyle factors impacts the length of time an individual will be disease-free.

To answer this question, a group of researchers took data from two sources; firstly, the Nurses’ Health Study, which included information from 73,196 female nurses. Secondly, they gained access to data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which included the data from 38,366 male health professionals. They published their findings in the BMJ.

Lifestyle and health over time

The scientists calculated a lifestyle score from 0–5 for each participant. They calculated this score by assessing five low risk lifestyle factors — healthy weight, never smoking, exercising for at least 30 minutes each day, moderate alcohol intake, and a good quality diet.

Researchers had followed the participants for many years and recorded diagnoses and deaths from cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. As part of their analysis, the scientists accounted for a range of factors, including family medical history, age, and race.

The authors of the recent study found that women aged 50 who did not adopt any of the five low risk lifestyle factors could expect to live without cancer, diabetes, and heart disease for a further 24 years. However, those who followed four or five of these factors could expect an additional 34 disease-free years.

Men aged 50 who did not incorporate any of the low risk lifestyle factors into their lives could expect to live an extra 24 years free of chronic diseases. However, those whose lifestyle included four or five low risk factors had around 31 years of disease-free life.

Men who smoked more than 15 cigarettes each day, and anyone with obesity had the lowest amount of disease-free life expectancy after 50. The authors summarize:

“[W]e observed that adherence to a low risk lifestyle was associated with a longer life expectancy at age 50 free of major chronic diseases of approximately 7.6 years in men and 10 years in women compared with participants with no low risk lifestyle factors.”

Improving survival

The scientists also found that men and women with four or five low risk lifestyle factors who received a diagnosis of cancer, cardiovascular disease, or type 2 diabetes lived longer than individuals with the same diagnoses who did not have any low risk factors. As the authors explain:

“A healthful lifestyle not only decreased the risk of incident cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes but also improved the survival after diagnosis of those diseases.”

The authors are quick to note that the study is observational, so it is not possible to conclude a causal relationship. Also, lifestyle factors were self-reported, which, as the authors write, means that “measurement errors are inevitable.”

Even though the scientists controlled for a wide range of factors, there is always a possibility that unmeasured factors might account for the results.

However, the scientists had access to detailed information from each participant at multiple times over a substantial followup period; overall, they conclude:

“Public policies for improving food and the physical environment conducive to adopting a healthful diet and lifestyle, as well as relevant policies and regulations (for example, [the] smoking ban in public places or trans­ fat restrictions) are critical to improving life expectancy, especially life expectancy free of major chronic diseases.”

BY: TIM NEWMAN

FACT CHECKED BY: PAULA FIELD

* This article is a repost which originally appeared on medicalnewstoday.com.