HomeWHYWhy Does Phentermine Cause Blurry Vision

Why Does Phentermine Cause Blurry Vision

DISCUSSION

The patient’s maximum IOP was 38 mmHg and quickly recovered to normal after treatment. The patient’s condition needed to be differentially diagnosed from primary acute angle-closure glaucoma. She had no family history but did have a prominent medicine history, and she was a young woman, an age when primary acute angle-closure glaucoma is rare. Ciliary body detachment was another distinctly important sign, which we believed to be the primary cause of her vision loss.

The currently available drugs approved for weight management by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are orlistat, lorcaserin, phentermine/topiramate, liraglutide, and naltrexone/bupropion, all of which have different mechanisms. Orlistat, by inhibiting the lipase in the gastrointestinal tract, prevents the decomposition of the fat in food into free fatty acids and thus inhibits the use and absorption of fat.3 Lorcaserin is a highly selective 5-hydroxytryptamine 2C receptor agonist that may influence eating through promoting satiety, reducing the incentive motivational value of food, and improving impulse control4; it may be more effective in obesity associated with emotional eating. Phentermine/topiramate is a fixed-dose, controlled-release, combination product whose mechanisms in weight loss are still under investigation. Phentermine works to suppress appetite by strengthening the neurotransmission of norepinephrine and dopamine.5 The mechanism of action of topiramate in obesity treatment may be through augmenting the activity of γ-aminobutyrate and inhibiting aminomethyl phosphoric acid/kainite excitatory glutamate receptors or carbonic anhydrase.6 Liraglutide is a glucagon-like peptide 1 analog that lowers body weight through decreased calorie intake; it has an anorectic effect through activation of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptors in certain areas in the brain.7 Naltrexone and bupropion have a synergistic effect on food intake. When combined, they act on hypothalamic brain regions to regulate appetite and energy expenditure.8 Among these drugs, only topiramate has been reported to have an association with angle-closure glaucoma.9

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On the official Web site for Korean New Drugs, we found that the main ingredient of one of the company’s diet pills is paracetamol, which contains acetaminophen (200 mg). The other two ingredients are psilocybin and chlorothiazide, which were detected by a biological company using mass spectrographic analysis. Both acetaminophen and chlorothizide have been reported to be significantly associated with the development of acute angle-closure glaucoma in both eyes.10-12

Psilocybin is one of the most widely used psychedelics in human studies because of its relative safety, moderately long active duration, and good absorption in subjects.13,14 The foremost visual effects of psilocybin are enhanced color saturation, pattern recognition, and visual acuity (at lower doses) and vision distortions and perspective distortion hallucinations (at higher doses).13 No complication of the detachment of the ciliary body caused by psilocybin has ever been reported.

In the latest literature, Zeng et al.12 reported a 39-year-old man who presented with transient myopia with uveal effusion and high IOP induced by excessive use of nonprescription cold and flu medication. They concluded that the acetaminophen in the medication was responsible for the ciliary body detachment by affecting choroidal leakage caused by the cholinergic nerve pathway.12 Because our patient did not take acetaminophen in excess, we speculate that acetaminophen might have had only a secondary effect on ciliary body detachment and not have been a major factor.

Another important ingredient in the diet pills taken by our patient is chlorothiazide, which is also considered to be a significant factor in ciliary body detachment. Chlorothiazide belongs to the class of sulfonamide diuretics, which can stimulate the synthesis of prostaglandins.15 Prostaglandins are recognized to be the mediators of inflammation, which can cause an increase in vasodilation and permeability; we speculate that these processes can eventually lead to ciliary body edema, exudation, and detachment. Ciliochoroidal effusion leads to relaxation of the ciliary zone and the forward rotation of the ciliary body and, in turn, displaces the iris forward to close the anterior chamber angle.10,15,16 Finally, the anterior chamber becomes shallower, and acute angle closure may occur. Although chlorothiazide has been reported to be associated with glaucoma, it has not been reported in weight-loss drugs. The widespread use of diet pills requires vigilance against this adverse effect.

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Treatment principles include the discontinuation of diet pills and control of IOP. Glucocorticoid is helpful to relieve the ciliary body edema, which has a satisfactory prognosis.

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