Ozempic and blindness: Is vision loss a side effect of this weight loss drug?

There’s a variety of curiosity round Semaglutide, which is bought below totally different manufacturers, together with Ozempic. It could assist to regulate blood sugar ranges and assist weight reduction. However the drugs, permitted by the US Meals and Drug Administration for kind 2 diabetes administration, might also trigger nausea and diarrhea. These frequent unwanted effects could disappear as soon as your physique will get used to the weekly jabs. Nonetheless, there are additionally research which have linked this drugs to imaginative and prescient loss. Is there any connection between Ozempic and blindness? Let’s discover out.

What’s Ozempic?

Ozempic (semaglutide) is an injectable remedy categorised as a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. “GLP-1 is an incretin hormone that performs a significant function in glucose regulation, particularly after consuming,” says endocrinologist Dr Dheeraj Kapoor. Administered as soon as weekly by way of subcutaneous injection, the medication is primarily used together with a nutritious diet and train to regulate blood sugar ranges in adults with kind 2 diabetes. It’s also used for weight reduction.

What are the advantages of Ozempic?

Listed below are a number of the advantages of Ozempic:

• Lowers blood sugar ranges: It stimulates the pancreas to launch extra insulin when blood sugar ranges go up. “This helps to decrease blood sugar with out a vital threat of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar,” says the knowledgeable. It reduces the discharge of glucagon hormone from the pancreas, which additional contributes to decreasing blood sugar ranges.
• Slows gastric emptying: It slows the speed at which the meals you eat leaves your abdomen and reaches your intestines. “This results in a sense of fullness, reduces post-meal glucose spikes, and can assist with weight reduction,” says the knowledgeable.

What’s the connection between Ozempic and blindness?

Ozempic and blindness don’t have a direct hyperlink. Nonetheless, there are a couple of potential oblique hyperlinks:

1. Diabetic retinopathy

For folks with pre-existing diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes that impacts the blood vessels within the retina, fast enhancements in blood sugar management, equivalent to these seen with medicines like Ozempic, can generally be related to a brief worsening of retinopathy. “It is a identified phenomenon in diabetes administration, not unique to Ozempic. This short-term worsening may doubtlessly impression imaginative and prescient if not monitored,” says Dr Kapoor. In a two-year trial involving folks with diabetes and excessive cardiovascular threat, extra circumstances of diabetic retinopathy problems have been seen in contributors handled with Ozempic (3%) in comparison with placebo (1.8%), as per the US Meals and Drug Administration.

2. Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION)

There are research which have instructed a potential affiliation between Ozempic and blindness. A hyperlink between semaglutide and nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) was discovered throughout a 2024 examine revealed within the journal JAMA Ophthalmology. “It’s a situation involving sudden imaginative and prescient loss attributable to an absence of blood move to the optic nerve,” says Dr Kapoor. A brand new evaluation, revealed in JAMA Ophthalmology in January 2025, confirmed that 9 folks taking semaglutide and tirzepatide both skilled NAION, papillitis or paracentral acute center maculopathy. These situations result in imaginative and prescient loss.

Ozempic and blindness: Does imaginative and prescient get higher after stopping the medication?

If imaginative and prescient adjustments have been associated to a brief worsening of diabetic retinopathy attributable to fast glycemic enchancment, imaginative and prescient may stabilise. “It could enhance over time, no matter whether or not Ozempic is sustained, as the general glucose management improves,” says the knowledgeable. If the imaginative and prescient adjustments have been linked to different elements, equivalent to NAION, the end result would depend upon the character and extent of the optic nerve injury. “In NAION or different eye situations, imaginative and prescient loss is commonly everlasting, though some folks could expertise partial restoration,” says the knowledgeable. So, the reversibility of imaginative and prescient adjustments after stopping Ozempic relies upon totally on the underlying explanation for the imaginative and prescient difficulty.

Ozempic and blindness: What are the opposite unwanted effects?

The hyperlink between Ozempic and blindness might not be apparent, however there are unwanted effects which you could count on. The unwanted effects of Ozempic primarily contain the gastrointestinal system:

• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Constipation
• Stomach ache

Much less frequent, however doubtlessly extra critical unwanted effects of Ozempic can embrace:

• Pancreatitis
• Gallbladder issues like gallstones
• Hypoglycemia, particularly if used with different anti-diabetes medicines like insulin or sulfonylureas.
• Acute kidney damage, which is commonly associated to dehydration from extreme gastrointestinal unwanted effects.

Ozempic and blindness: scale back the chance of imaginative and prescient loss and different unwanted effects?

Stopping potential eye points and different unwanted effects whereas on Ozempic entails:

• Common eye exams, which is very essential for folks with diabetes. These will assist to watch for any indicators of diabetic retinopathy. You must report any adjustments in your imaginative and prescient to your physician promptly.
• Whereas Ozempic might be very efficient, your physician will goal for a gradual and protected enchancment in blood sugar ranges, which could assist scale back the chance of short-term worsening of retinopathy. That’s why the dose of Ozempic begins with 0.25 mg as soon as every week then 4 weeks later, it will get elevated to 0.5 mg as soon as every week.
• Staying hydrated will assist to minimise the chance of kidney points related to extreme gastrointestinal unwanted effects.

You will need to observe that Ozempic and blindness are usually not normally linked, and imaginative and prescient loss just isn’t a generally reported or an anticipated aspect impact of this weight reduction drug. Nonetheless, if you’re on Ozempic, and expertise any adjustments in imaginative and prescient, instantly seek the advice of a health care provider.