Humira Linked To Vision Loss?

I have been taking Humira for 18 months and I started experiencing central vision loss 9 months ago. I have seen an Opthamologist specialist at UCLA and waiting for results of genetic testing to roll out Stargardt’s disease, but now I’m wondering if it is related, or progressing as quickly as it is due to the medication. I am hesitant to continue this medication due to my vision loss as I’m scared of losing more vision than I have already. In the last 5 months I have gone from 20/80 (with corrective lenses) to 20/300 (with corrective lenses). Has anyone else experienced vision loss/blindness?

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Hi Breanne,

Sorry to hear about your situation. According to NIH, "changes in vision" are listed as a known side effect of Humira. It lists everything from "sunken eyes" to "blurred vision" and even "blindness" as possible side effects. It also lists "visual disturbances"...

Ref: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0045995/#DDIC601467.side_effects_section

When it comes to unwanted side effects, many can be tolerated to accommodate the benefits of the medication...However, in this case, I find the possibility of going blind to be quite frightening, to say the least! In my own personal opinion, no benefits outweigh the risk of going blind with a continued notable decline in vision leading up to this horrific event.

With these facts, I'm sure you'll make the right decision for your future!

~Wishing you good health!~

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Re: David (# 1)

I’ve only been on Humira 6 months and I have blurred vision. Saw my eye doctor and he says I have an cataract in my right eye which is the eye I have blued vision. Before that, I was on gabapentin for Trigeminal Neuralgia. I have now had surgery for that July 9th. So I’m not taking anything else except Humira for Crohn’s.

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Have dry eyes, saw an ophthalmologist, got Restasis but can not take it. I got very bad irregular heartbeat and high blood pressure. Is there something else what works?

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I think Humira is the scariest drug out there. I have Crohn's disease and my G.I. specialist tried to get me on it on my second visit and I just said no!. She would put me on it without asking me if I get infections often or without ordering a colonoscopy first? My last colonoscopy showed no inflammation. The list of known side effects are crazy and serious. I would consider this drug to be a very very last resort drug.

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Yes I Have. I actually lost my sight twice. For a very very brief time. When I went to my GI and discussed the two incidence , He replied well for how long did you lose your sight. I replied, FOR HOW LONG. are you crazy. I stopped taking Humeria soon there after. Get of this Humeria Bad News,

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Re: David (# 1)

In the mid 90's I was in the trials for Remicade, a biological with the same mode of action as Humira.

At the time I started, my vision was 20/20 with glasses, 20/200 without glasses.

Within a few years, my ophthalmologist told me he was seeing the beginnings of cataracts. At the same time, it began becoming more difficult to get a good refraction exam. The difference between successive lenses the doctor placed in the device became smaller and smaller. They couldn't select lenses that were as clear as I thought they should be. Or perhaps the lenses were being cleaned less often. As a result. I didn't see the connection between that and cataracts until I had surgery to replace bad natural lenses with incredibly sharp acrylic lenses.

By the time I had surgery, my cataracts had gotten so bad that the machines normally used to determine the prescription for replacement lenses were unable to detect any points of focus because they were too dense. Fortunately, the teaching hospital I went to had a machine that used ultrasound to measure the dimensions of the eye from which the doctors were able to calculate an approximation of the correct prescription. As a result, after the surgery, my uncorrected vision was only 20/30 instead of the 20/20 hoped for. I was still happy, though. For the first time, I could clearly see street signs without glasses.

A friend who had cataract surgery was not so lucky. She waited too long for her surgery, and after the cataracts were removed, the "bags" that remained after scooping out the contents of her natural lenses weren't strong enough to hold her replacement lenses in place, and they almost immediately drifted, requiring two second operations to fix them in place with sutures that are normally never needed.

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