ATLANTA \u2014 Doctors are urging patients considering GLP-1 weight loss medications to get a comprehensive eye exam due to a possible side effect impacting vision.<\/p>\n
Jacqueline Bowen with the American Optometric Association says doctors are seeing an increased risk of Optic Neuritis, or swelling of the optic nerve, among patients using the medications.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things we\u2019re seeing in all populations is an increased risk of Optic Neuritis, which is the swelling of the optic nerve. That might result in a sudden or gradual loss of vision, color-dimming, just kind of something funny in your vision,\u201d Bowen said.<\/p>\n
She advises patients to get a comprehensive eye exam within a month of starting the drug if they have not had one in the past year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have not had a comprehensive eye exam with an optometrist in the year prior to starting the medication, get that done within a month or so of starting it,\u201d Bowen said.<\/p>\n
Doctors report that as more people use GLP-1 medications, they are seeing more cases of optic nerve swelling, which can lead to vision problems if not addressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith patients who are at risk for diabetic eye disease and Macular Degeneration, those risks of increased bleeding on the retina have increased as we\u2019ve seen more people on these medications as well,\u201d Bowen said.<\/p>\n
The American Optometric Association recommends patients get a baseline eye exam before starting the medication and continue with yearly exams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just like with any medication, it\u2019s a great medication but every medication has risks. This one doesn\u2019t escape that theory,\u201d Bowen said.<\/p>\n
An estimated 12% of U.S. adults have used GLP-1 medications so far, with approximately 25 to 30 million people currently taking them.<\/p>\n
WSB Radio\u2019s Sabrina Cupit contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Doctors are urging patients considering GLP-1 weight loss medications to get a comprehensive eye exam due…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[134,524,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-360237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}