Can Tamoxifen cause permanent eye problems?

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Heya24
Heya24 Member Posts: 22
edited November 2017 in Hormonal Therapy - Before, During, and After

I know tamoxifen can cause vision problems, but I can't find anything on whether or not they might be permanent. It says it can cause "changes in vision due to cataracts or changes to the retina of your eye", but are those changes possibly permanent or will they clear up once Tamoxifen is stopped? Anyone know any merdical articles, or studies, or have experience with this, please?

Thank you for your time!

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  • shoppygirl
    shoppygirl Member Posts: 694
    edited May 2016

    Hi

    I am not sure if Tamoxafin caused this but about seven months after I started taking it, I developed a huge spiderweb floater in my eye. Six months later my retina detached completely. I have always had eye issues but after this happening, it makes me wonder if the Tamoxafin put it over the edge. I also developed a very rare scar tissue disease in the detached eye. I would just take a lot of care with your eyes and be very aware of any changes.

    Take care

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  • Heya24
    Heya24 Member Posts: 22
    edited May 2016

    shoppygirl, I am so sorry that happened to you. Thank you for talking about your experience, I'm definitely keeping it in mind.

    I ended up finding some articles that answers my own question, by the way, I just needed to use a different search term, whoops, haha. Anyway, if anyone reading this wanna see, here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10707134 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1591689

    The former: "The keratopathy changes were reversible upon discontinuation of the drug."

    The latter: "After tamoxifen withdrawal almost all ocular abnormalities were found to be reversible, except for the retinal opacities."

    So essentially mostly everything will go away, unless they caused scarring on the cornea (or something to that effect)? I'm not very good with academic speak, but that's what I understood from it.

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  • shoppygirl
    shoppygirl Member Posts: 694
    edited May 2016

    Thanks for the link on the article. I am also sure that the chemo caused my eye to weaken too. It also didn't help that my first retinal specialist was a total dud!! He almost caused me to loose the sight in my eye. Thank goodness I found someone great and he fixed it as much as he could.

    Take care.

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  • pearlcap
    pearlcap Member Posts: 11
    edited November 2017

    I was on Tamoxifen for about 5 years and had vision problems after 2-3 years, primarily fuzziness in my middle vision. I went to one retina specialist and he couldn't figured it out and said my eyes were fine. I kept on taking Tamoxifen but about 4.5 years of taking Tamoxifen the fuzziness got worse. I went to another retinal specialist who did extensive tests and sent me to an eye clinic for more tests. The doctors were then able to confirm that the problems I had were due to Tamoxifen. I read studies that the vision returned after getting off of Tamoxifen, but that is not the case with me. It could be that I was on it too long and didn't quit right away when I first noticed the symptoms. It's been about 7 months since I got off of Tamoxifen and I still have the fuzziness in the middle of my vision. I am nearsighted and noticed my prescription got worse as well, after having the same prescription since high school. It's been a long time since I was treated for breast cancer, so I'm not on the website much. If my vision returns, I'll come by and post it.

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