A 50-year-old American suffered from very serious irreversible vision problems after ingesting too much Viagra.
The case of this man was reported in the JAMA Ophthalmology. By ingesting an entire 30ml bottle of liquid sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in Viagra, an American in his 50s suffered very serious vision problems. “This dose of 750 mg represents almost 10 times the recommended dose of 80 mg”, specify the doctors.
A donut shape in his field of vision
The latter diagnosed “night blindness”, that is to say a excessive difficulty seeing in dim light and extreme sensitivity to light. More importantly, he began to see a circular shape similar to a donut in the center of his field of vision.
While these symptoms gradually disappeared, the odd donut shape remained. After several examinations, it emerged that the patient had a retinal rupture in both eyes, caused by the excessive dose of Viagra which would have dilated their blood vessels too quickly and too strongly. “We believe that this patient developed retinal photoreceptor toxicity (light-sensitive sensory neurons found on the posterior layer of the retina, editor’s note) due to high levels of PDE6 (a protein present in photoreceptors, editor’s note) after an overdose of sildenafil”.
Similar cases already reported
In their article, the doctors indicate that a similar case was reported at Oxford Hospital, in a man who consumed 1500 mg of sildenafil and presented with a persistent central scotoma, i.e.blackheads, black or light spots.
Last October, a publication by Retinal Cases also reported the case of a 31-year-old American who developed irreversible vision problems after consuming too much Viagra. Because he had not respected the doses indicated on the box, the young man will see red for life. Suffering from erectile dysfunction, this New Yorker had ordered Viagra on the Internet. But instead of using the dropper that came with the bottle, he’d decided to drink the liquid straight from the neck, far exceeding the recommended daily dose. Shortly after, a red filter fell in front of his eyes as well as multicolored flashes and a loss of contrasts. The next day, the flashes had stopped but the red filter was still there. After several examinations, doctors diagnosed persistent retinal toxicity.
These different cases testify to the importance of respecting the dosage of each drug and of speaking with a doctor when you wish to increase the prescribed dose.
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