I have heard so much stuff about Viagra causing vision loss that I wanted to educate the general public some more as to what happens there and why Viagra got its reputation for causing vision loss. Of course, no one wants to take a medication that can cause them to go blind, but there is much more to this story than meets the eye (forgive the pun). I simply want to give the whole picture about this rumor that Viagra can cause vision loss.
Namely, it all started sometime in the mid 2000s, when the FDA ran a clinical study to find out whether Viagra is the reason for vision loss in some of the patients who have been using this medication. A number of patients who have been taking Viagra for ED have reported vision loss. It was found out that this vision loss could be attributed to a condition known as NAION, or nonarteric anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. This is a very serious condition which can result in a number of symptoms, one of which is the loss of vision. It has been found out that some patients who have been using Viagra have developed this condition and that it has caused loss of vision in some of them.
Of course, this gave the usual enemies of Viagra the perfect opportunity to further badmouth this medication. Of course, we are talking about certain companies who are selling their herbal supplements and other natural products that are also aimed at treating ED. However, s their products have very little, if any, beneficial effects on patients suffering from ED, unlike Viagra whose efficacy has been proven, they are at a constant need to badmouth the magic blue pill and this was a perfect opportunity to come down on Viagra.
What happened next was a huge clinical study that FDA has conducted and this is what they discovered. The vast majority of patients who developed nonarteric anterior ischemic optic neuropathy were already at an increased risk of developing this condition. Namely, most of them suffered from conditions that are usually related to NAION. Also, they have discovered that the ratio of people who have been using Viagra and the ratio of those who developed NAION is the same as when the use of Viagra is not present. Therefore, the direct connection between taking Viagra and NAION and subsequent loss of vision has never been established.
However, FDA being what it is decided to include the warning about vision loss on the Viagra labels, for legal reasons. Therefore, vision loss should really not be your concern if you intend to use Viagra and there is the same probability of losing your vision when taking the medication as there is if you are not. It is important that you are aware of the nature of label warning, and much more importantly of the nature of scare tactics that some companies are using to sell their inferior products.