Clinical Case Notes: Malignant Melanoma in Eviscerated Eyeball
February 2004
in “
Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology
”
TLDR Finasteride, often used for hair loss, can potentially cause cataracts.
In 2004, three clinical cases were reported. The first case involved a 10-month-old boy with 13q deletion syndrome who was diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer. The second case was a 68-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer who experienced progressive visual loss due to tamoxifen toxic optic neuropathy. The third case was a 43-year-old man who experienced decreasing vision after taking finasteride (Propecia) for 3 years to treat early-stage androgenic alopecia. The man developed anterior subcapsular lens opacities, suggesting that finasteride may have been associated with the opacity. The document concluded that while finasteride is commonly used with a good side-effects profile, it can be associated with the development of cataracts.
