In a shocking new study, an unexpected side effect of weight loss drugs has emerged, which could be a cause of concern for thousands of adults on GLP-1 medication. Experts in a new study published in JAMA Ophthalmology warn about three potentially blinding eye conditions caused by Ozempic and similar weight loss drugs.
The experts found that nine people taking semglutide and tirzepatide — the active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro suffered from vision issuesincluding nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), as well as two other potentially blinding eye conditions.
This isn’t the first time the weight loss drugs have been linked to blindness. In July last year, a research had linked semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic to NAION.
For the study, researchers examined the reports of nine patients – five females and four males – with an average age of about 58. Out of nine, seven developed NAION. Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is a type of eye stroke, which occurs due to a lack of sufficient blood flow to the optic nerve. It can cause sudden blindness in one or both eyes.
“One (participant) developed a stroke in the retina — this is the part of your eye that absorbs light and turns it into an electrical signal for your brain,” Bradley Katz, MD, PhD, an ophthalmologist at the John A. Moran Eye Center and professor in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Utah and lead author of this study, told Medical News Today. “This stroke also causes irreversible loss of vision in one eye.”
“The ninth patient developed swelling in both optic nerves but did not lose vision,” Katz added.
Possible causes of vision loss
Researchers feel that rapid reduction in blood sugar may harm the optic nerves.
“These drugs are very effective at reducing blood sugar and when one rapidly reduces blood sugar it can cause swelling in the optic nerve,” Katz explained.
“It can also temporarily worsen diabetic eye changes. How it causes swelling is thought to be due an osmotic shift. When there’s more ‘stuff’ in your blood — in this case sugar — and you suddenly reduce the amount of stuff in the blood, it causes rapid shifts in fluid between blood vessels and cells in the eye,” he said.
Semaglutide’s effects on eyes
Semaglutide that can help control blood sugar in people by releasing hormones that make one feel full, also prompts the body to create more insulin, which reduces blood sugar.
When the body undergoes a change in sugar level, it can affect the shape of the eye’s lens. This change is what causes blurry vision, a side effect of semaglutide, says an article published in American Academy of Ophthalmology
Another AAO study has suggested that there is an association between blood sugar control and worsening of diabetic retinopathy.
“It can also temporarily worsen diabetic eye changes. How it causes swelling is thought to be due an osmotic shift. When there’s more ‘stuff’ in your blood — in this case sugar — and you suddenly reduce the amount of stuff in the blood, it causes rapid shifts in fluid between blood vessels and cells in the eye,” Katz said.
However, more studies are needed to establish this connection and this remains a rare side effect of Ozempic, feel researchers.
