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Experts have sounded the alarm about blockbuster weight loss drugs like Ozempic leaving users blind.
Several studies have linked the shots to conditions that cause inflammation and block blood flow to the eye, causing severe and sometimes permanent vision loss.
Now, researchers have detailed nine new reports of US patients who went blind after taking semaglutide or tirzepatide, the active ingredients in Ozempic and Mounjaro, respectively.
One woman injected one dose of semaglutide for her diabetes and woke up the next morning blind in her left eye.
This prompted her to stop the medication for two months before her diabetes forced her to go back on it. Two weeks after restarting, she lost vision in her right eye as well.
Another woman who had been taking semaglutide for a year woke up one morning with a ‘painless shadow’ over her left eye. Testing revealed blood vessels in her retina had become damaged, leading to blindness.
And one suffered bleeding in his left eye after taking tirzepatide for a year. However, doctors told him to keep taking the drug due to a lack of evidence linking his condition to weight loss shots.
The researchers wrote in JAMA Ophthalmology last month that it’s not clear exactly what could be causing the side effect.
The experts said while the exact cause is unclear, drugs like Ozempic rapidly lowering blood sugar levels could damaage blod vessels in the eyes, leading to vision loss.
Last year, the American Academy of Ophthalmology issued a press release urging patients who have experienced vision loss while taking semaglutide to stop taking the drug and contact their doctor.
Health officials in Denmark, where Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk is based, is currently investigating.
The new report detailed the cases of nine adults taking either semaglutide or tirzepatide.
The average patient age was 57, and the majority (56 percent) were women.
The patients were from Utah, Minnesota, New York, West Virginia, and Ohio.
The researchers found seven patients were diagnosed with nonarteritic ischemic anterior optic neuropathy (NAION), a condition where blood flow to the optic nerve gets blocked. The optic nerve helps transmit visual information from the eye’s retina to the brain.
One woman in her 50s developed NAION the day after her first semaglutide injection.
She woke up the morning after the injection with ‘painful vision loss’ in her left eye.
Tests revealed swelling in her optic nerve and damaged blood vessels in her retina.
The women stopped taking semaglutide and her insulin, and her vision had gone back to normal two months later.
Two weeks after restarting semaglutide to control her diabetes, the vision loss returned. She was diagnosed with severe optic nerve swelling, and her vision returned to normal seven months later.
It’s unclear if she stopped semaglutide a second time.
A man in his 60s started experiencing painless blurred vision in his right eye 10 months after starting semaglutide for diabetes.
He had optic nerve swelling and flame hemorrhage, bleeding into his retina. Though his symptoms resolved within a few weeks, he lost vision in his left eye as well.
About 10 weeks after stopping semaglutide, vision in both eyes returned to normal.
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