The world has long been concerned about obesity. It has long been known for its connections to non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. Initially presented as a simple fix for this issue, Ozempic and Wegovy quickly gained popularity as weight loss choices, even among Hollywood celebrities.
A new study published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology suggests that those who use these medications may be more susceptible to a rare type of blindness. Doctors maintain that this shouldn’t stop people from using medications to manage their obesity or diabetes. Let’s take a closer look.
Weight-loss drugs and blindness Researchers at Mass General Brigham have found that patients taking semaglutide, marketed under the names Ozempic for diabetes or Wegovy for weight loss, had a higher chance of being diagnosed with a rare disorder called NAION than patients with obesity or diabetes who did not take the medicine. Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION is a kind of stroke that results in sudden, painless loss of vision in one eye, as per CNN . The condition is relatively uncommon; up to 10 out of 100,000 persons in the general population may encounter it.
It is unclear exactly how semaglutide interacts with the eyes and the exact cause of NAION is not known either. The illness damages the optic nerve, yet vision loss frequently occurs without any prior warning. Harvard University researchers examined data from 16,82.
