Many medications, including steroids, antihistamines, antidepressants, blood pressure drugs (beta-blockers, diuretics), antipsychotics, epilepsy drugs (Topiramate), and antimalarials, can cause eye problems like dry eyes, blurred vision, glaucoma, cataracts, or even retinal damage, with effects ranging from mild irritation to serious vision loss, so discuss any eye symptoms with your doctor or pharmacist.
Some medications used to treat high blood pressure, such as diuretics and beta-blockers, can also affect the eyes. Diuretics may lead to dry eyes.
The Most Common Prescriptions That Can Damage Your Vision
Different conditions, including keratitis, trauma, hyphema, uveitis, acute glaucoma, optic neuritis, papilledema and retinal detachment, can cause sudden loss of vision.
Anticoagulants or blood thinners such as warfarin (brand names Coumadin, Jantoven), rivaroxaban (Xarelto), apixaban (Eliquis), and dabigatran (Pradaxa) have been linked to intraocular hemorrhage (bleeding inside the eye). This side effect can affect visual acuity if left untreated and may require surgical treatment.
Oral antithrombotic medications are a mainstay for preventing blood clots, but they have associated ocular risks. Because of the anti-clotting nature of these medications, certain antithrombotics have been shown to increase risk for intraocular hemorrhages (bleeding in the eye).
Rohit Vuppuluri discusses common side effects of Eliquis (apixaban) in seniors, including bruising easily, persistent bleeding, nausea, and anemia. He emphasizes the importance of monitoring for these effects, especially gastrointestinal bleeding, which can be a concern in older adults.
The most common eye diseases worldwide are:
Your eyes offer vital clues to overall health, with signs like yellowing whites (jaundice) indicating liver issues, red spots/vessel changes hinting at diabetes or high blood pressure, and sudden flashes/floaters suggesting retinal problems, while a doctor can spot hidden issues like high cholesterol (arcus senilis, xanthalasma) or even certain cancers during a dilated exam. Changes in pupil size, drooping eyelids, and persistent dry eyes or headaches can also signal underlying conditions, making regular eye exams crucial for early detection of silent diseases.
Early signs of an eye stroke (retinal artery occlusion or ischemic optic neuropathy) typically involve sudden, painless vision loss or changes, most often in only one eye, including blurred vision, blind spots, floaters, or a dark shadow covering part of your sight. It often happens upon waking and is a medical emergency requiring immediate attention to potentially save sight and identify a risk for a full stroke.
Out of 323 reported cases he found eight products associated with clinically significant ocular side effects: ginkgo biloba Echinacea purpurea chamomile licorice canthaxanthine Datura niacin and vitamin A.
Overview. The leading causes of blindness and low vision in the United States are primarily age-related eye diseases. Those diseases include age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. Other common eye disorders include amblyopia and strabismus.
Corticosteroids, or steroids, can raise eye pressure, especially in those persons who have open-angle glaucoma, first-degree relatives of those with open-angle glaucoma, elderly and young (<6 years) persons, those with type 1 diabetes and those with high myopia (short-sightedness).
Most people with hypertensive retinopathy do not have symptoms until late in the disease. Symptoms may include: Double vision, dim vision, or vision loss. Headaches.
5 of the worst blood pressure medications
Studies suggest that certain drugs may increase your risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or make AMD worse if you already have it. Examples include hydroxychloroquine and tamoxifen.
Common Eye Conditions
Most people know that high cholesterol can affect heart health—but it can also impact your eyes, especially the retina. Common symptoms of eye issues related to high cholesterol include blurry vision, dark spots in the field of vision, and eye pain.
The 10-10-10 rule for eyes is a simple strategy to combat digital eye strain: every 10 minutes, take a 10-second break and look at something at least 10 feet away, giving your eyes a rest from near-focus on screens. This practice helps prevent eye fatigue, dryness, and headaches by allowing eye muscles to relax and encouraging blinking, which is often reduced during screen use, says Healthline and Brinton Vision.
Get emergency medical care if you have sudden changes in vision or an injury to your eye. Specific factors that may accompany urgent vision-related medical conditions include sudden onset of: Severe eye pain or irritation. Vision loss or double vision.
The symptoms to watch for are the sudden onset or worsening of:
A fluorescein angiogram is a test to look at the blood vessels in your eye. Your doctor puts a yellow coloured dye called fluorescein into a vein in your arm or hand. The dye travels through your bloodstream to the blood vessels in your eyes. Your doctor then takes pictures of your eyes as the dye passes through.
Eliquis may not be right for people with certain medical conditions such as an artificial heart valve, bleeding problems, heavy bleeding, antiphospholipid syndrome, kidney disease, or liver disease.
Novel anticoagulants, dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban, are at least as effective as warfarin in reducing the risk of stroke and are safer in elderly patients than warfarin. These agents are also easier to use and unlike warfarin do not require frequent blood test monitoring.
In a Kaplan‐Meier analysis, patients who were treated with warfarin had a mean life expectancy of 52.0 months, whereas those who were not treated with warfarin had a corresponding life expectancy of 38.2 months (Δ = 13.8 months, p < 0.001) (fig 1).