Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #456

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Viagra Could Be A New Miracle Cure For BLINDNESS, Scientists Claim
By Pat Hagan, Daily Mail
It sounds difficult to believe, but Viagra could restore sight to the blind.
Tests show the anti-impotence drug may stop further loss of vision for patients being robbed of their sight – and could even repair damage that’s already been done.
A two-year trial led by scientists at Columbia University in New York suggests the little blue pills could stop age- related macular degeneration, or AMD, in its tracks.
The condition is the UK’s leading cause of blind- ness, with about 600,000 Britons already thought to have suffered some loss of vision as a result of it.
Around 90 per cent of cases involve dry AMD, a form of the dis-
ease which comes on slowly over several years. The rest involve wet AMD, which can cause blindness in as little as three months.
Dry AMD usually develops after the age of 50 and is caused by the growth of new blood vessels over the macula, a small oval- shaped area at the back of the eye that helps us pick out visual
details clearly.
These blood ves- sels leak fluid, causing scar tis- sue to form and destroying vision in the centre of the eye – making it difficult to recognise faces, read or watch tel- evision.
Recent research has found the condition is partly caused by reduced blood flow to the choroid, a vital layer of tissue
that sits in front of the retina – and some small earlier studies had suggested Viagra can improve blood flow to this tis- sue.
In the Columbia study, five elderly patients with AMD were given two Viagra pills a day for two years.
The results, pub- lished in the jour- nal Ophthalmologica,
showed the drug improved vision for one partici- pant and com- pletely halted deterioration for the others.
Some drugs can already slow pro- gression of AMD and increase vision in some cases, but the medicines have to be injected into the back of the eye every month.
The researchers said: ‘Viagra offers significant
potential for vision retention and recovery. It is notable that patients remained visually stable and there was a significant improvement in vision in one par- ticipant.’
Professor Sobha Sivaprasad from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists said the Viagra findings were encouraging, although the study was small.
‘We now need bigger studies to replicate these findings before Viagra can be used as a treat- ment,’ she cau- tioned.
Previous studies have suggested Viagra could help treat a string of ailments, from heart attacks and lung disease to dementia.
The drug became available over the counter in Britain for the first time in March.
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