Making a change in your prescription may or may not fix the eye problem if it is related to the medication(s). For example, if you’ve recently started taking an antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication and are seeking a change to your eyeglasses/contacts prescription, your eye doctor will want to wait before fulfilling this request. Such communication is key because if your doctor doesn’t have this knowledge, it could lead to confusion about managing your vision. The best course of action is to ensure your eye doctor is fully aware of all medications you are taking. Future data could create new questions and concerns for patients regularly taking these medications. Unlike the other side effects, (which are well documented) this potential connection is in the investigational stages. A number of studies are now evaluating their impact on the development of glaucoma and cataracts. Researchers are now growing more interested in the connection between antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications, and eye disease. Specifically, lithium (which is often used to treat bipolar disorder) is known to cause eye movement-related side effects, in addition to causing dry eye. Patients can experience vision changes caused by shifting of the lens, difficulty with accommodation (affecting your ability to focus across varying distances) and other abnormal eye movements. Strangely enough, one of the consequences of this dry eye is over-stimulation of reflex tear production, resulting in excess tear formation.Ĭertain mental health medications can also lead to significant changes in coordinated eye movements, creating issues for depth perception. They can also cause dry mouth, which has its own consequences for dental health. Drugs such as citalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, alprazolam and sertraline dry-out fluids and mucus membranes in the body, leading to dry eye. If the patient already has an eye condition such as dry eye or glaucoma, these side effects can worsen the conditions and potentially cause significant vision problems.Īnd speaking of dry eye, antidepressants can actually cause it. directly affect the pupil and ciliary muscle function of the eye and can make it difficult to focus on near objects. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Zoloft, Prozac, Lexapro, etc. One of the most common eye-related side effects of antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications is blurred vision.
I wanted to use this weekly blog update to describe these potential side effects and the implications for your quality of vision and eye health. These powerful drugs can have numerous side effects, many related to your eyes and vision. One in five Americans use some type of antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication.
David Evans Last modified on August 6, 2018 This product is also contraindicated in patients who are hypersensitive to any of its components.Antidepressants, Anti-anxiety Meds & Your Eyes
Paremyd (hydroxyamphetamine hydrobromide, tropicamide) Solution should not be used in patients with angle-closure glaucoma or in those with narrow angles in whom dilation of the pupil may precipitate an attack of angle-closure glaucoma.