A Danish man reports losing his vision temporarily after having sex. But neither Viagra nor any other erectile dysfunction drug was involved in this puzzling medical anomaly.
Fox News reported an interesting case of a male patient who was treated within the Department of Ophthalmology at Glostrup Hospital and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. The man would lose his vision each time he experienced an orgasm while having sex.
Curiously enough, the man would not lose his vision when performing other physically exerting activities. The incidents apparently happened a couple of years ago, and the report can be found on the PubMed database.
When the man sought medical help, doctors were suspicious of an embolism, but they eventually ruled this out. The doctors later concluded that the orgasmic vision loss was caused by vasoconstriction, which is the narrowing of blood vessels by muscles in their walls. Blood flow is then restricted or slowed. Certain medications (decongestants, cough/cold medications), as well as caffeine, can cause vasoconstriction.
ED Drugs Not Involved
Fox News reported that the man was treated with medications that helped to widen his blood vessels. The identity and age of the man were not released, and his temporary blindness was not caused by erectile dysfunction medications such as Viagra, Cialis or Levitra, because he was not taking these FDA-approved drugs at the time.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005 required medication warning label changes for Viagra, Cialis and Levitra because the products were associated with about 40 cases of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION, in patients who took the medication. The FDA never directly stated that the vision loss in these patients was tied directly to their use of the ED medications. Likewise, Pfizer (the manufacturer of Viagra) denied that its product was directly responsible for the vision loss.
“Men taking Viagra are at no greater risk for blindness — including vision loss from NAION — than men of similar age and health not taking the medicine,” the company stated. More than 20 million men have used Viagra, according to Pfizer, which claims the product has a great safety record.
Vasoconstriction, the condition that caused the man in the above report to lose his vision, can be a contributing factor to erectile dysfunction. There are many types of medications that can provide increased blood flow through blood vessels. In the case of PDE5 inhibitors such as Viagra, they block the degradative action of the phosphodiesterase-5 enzyme on cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP) in the smooth muscle cells lining the blood vessels that supply the corpus cavernosum of the penis.
This sounds complicated, but what Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra do is allow the smooth muscles in the penis to relax so that they can fill up with blood, causing an erection. Viagra’s side effects are generally mild. However, the product should never be taken with nitrates, as this can cause a sudden, serious drop in blood pressure. Patients should consult with their doctors before beginning any new medication, including Viagra.
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