Propecia-associated bilateral cataract.
A 43-year-old man presented suffering from decreasing vision in both eyes for 3 months. The patient's visual acuity was 6/20 (non-corrected) in the right eye and 6/10 (-1.75/-1.00 x 91) in the left. Ocular examination of both eyes revealed anterior subcapsular opacities of both lenses with the right eye being more severe than the left. He had been taking finasteride (Propecia; Merck, Sharp and Dohme) at 1 mg/day for 3 years to treat early stage of androgenic alopecia. It was highly suspected that finasteride was associated with the anterior subcapsular opacity on the lens, and the patient therefore discontinued use of finasteride. He underwent uneventful cataract extraction surgery and intraocular lens implantation of the right eye. One month after cataract surgery in the right eye, the best-corrected visual acuity was right 6/6 (-1.25) and left 6/10 (-2.00/-0.50 x 100). To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of Propecia-associated cataract.
Chou
Shih-Yu
SY
Kao
Shu-Ching
SC
Hsu
Wen-Ming
WM
D000328:Adult; D000505:Alopecia / Q000188:drug therapy; D002386:Cataract / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002387:Cataract Extraction; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018120:Finasteride / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D014792:Visual Acuity
D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D018120:Finasteride