Johns Hopkins Health Alerts | Vision | Vision Problems and Drug Side Effects

Many popular drugs can cause side effects, such as blurred vision, light sensitivity, or excessive tearing. Here are six common culprits.

Vision problems can be an unwanted side effect of many different medications. Most of these drugs will cause only temporary visual disturbances -- such as blurred or double vision, dry eyes, excessive tearing, puffy eyelids, sensitivity to light, seeing a yellow or blue tinge, or a change in eye color -- that disappear with time or once the medication is discontinued. However, long-term use of some medications may result in more serious vision disorders.

Always consider drug side effects when visual symptoms develop, and be sure to tell your ophthalmologist or optometrist about all medications you are taking. Regular use of any drug associated with serious vision disorders merits periodic monitoring of the eyes. Listed below are some of the most common drugs associated with vision problems.

• Antiarrhythmia drugs, such as amiodarone (Cordarone) and digoxin (Lanoxin), are used to treat abnormal heart rhythms and may cause visual disturbances such as blurred vision, yellow vision, or blue-green halos around objects.
• Antimalarial drugs, such as chloroquine (Aralen) and hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), are used not only for malaria, but also for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. They may cause visual disturbances such as blurred vision, and prolonged therapy may lead to irreversible retinopathy.
• Corticosteroids, such as prednisone (Deltasone and other brands) may lead to glaucoma or cataracts. Oral treatments (commonly used for arthritis) are linked to cataracts, while the inhaled versions used to treat asthma are associated with both cataracts and glaucoma.
• Erectile dysfunction drugs, like sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis), and vardenafil (Levitra), can temporarily cause objects to have a blue tinge to them, blurred vision, and sensitivity to light.
• Phenothiazines, like chlorpromazine (Thorazine) and thioridazine (Mellaril), are used to treat schizophrenia. These drugs may lead to blurred vision, changes in color vision, and difficulty seeing at night.
• Tamoxifen (Nolvadex), which is used to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrences, may lead to blurred vision, changes to the retina and cornea, and cataracts.

Johns Hopkins Health Alerts | Vision | Vision Problems and Drug Side Effects