Retinal toxicity of long term overdose of sildenafil citrate: A case report

Huichao Yan; Wenzhen Yu

doi:10.1016/j.ajoc.2022.101761

Retinal toxicity of long term overdose of sildenafil citrate: A case report

Am J Ophthalmol Case Rep. 2022 Dec 6:29:101761. doi: 10.1016/j.ajoc.2022.101761. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Huichao Yan^{1

2

3

4}, Wenzhen Yu^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China.
² Eye Diseases and Optometry Institute, Beijing, China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Therapy of Retinal and Choroid Diseases, Beijing, China.
⁴ College of Optometry, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Purpose: To report a case of eye structure changes in a patient with long-term overdose of sildenafil citrate.

Observations: A 28-year-old male presented to our outpatient clinic with flare sensation in both eyes for 1 year after taking sildenafil citrate at a dose of 200 mg daily for two years. mERG and OCT examination revealed persistent damage of retinal photoreceptor cells. The symptoms did not disappear after 3 months off the medication.

Conclusions and importance: Long term excessive use of overdose sildenafil citrate can cause serious damage to retinal photoreceptor cells. The retinal side effects of sildenafil citrate still need to be further investigated, and the administration of systemic overdose also needs to be considered by all physicians, not just ophthalmologists.

Keywords: PDE-6; Retinal photoreceptor cells; Sildenafil citrate.

Publication types

Case Reports