Visual Field Defect in a Patient Given Sodium Valproate Then Carbamazepine: Possible Effect of Aminotransferase Inhibition
April 2002
in “
PubMed
”
TLDR Anti-epileptic drugs may cause visual and hair side effects due to enzyme inhibition, especially in genetically predisposed individuals.
A 25-year-old woman treated with valproic acid and then carbamazepine for epilepsy developed a visual field defect similar to those seen with vigabatrin, despite not using vigabatrin. The case also involved trichorrhexis nodosa, a hair condition linked to metabolic disturbances in the urea cycle, suggesting that aminotransferase inhibition might cause various side effects, including visual abnormalities and alopecia, particularly in genetically predisposed individuals.
