Thursday, August 16, 2012

Chloroquine Retinopathy

Last month I had my field of vision screening for chloroquine retinopathy. I take a drug called hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) an anti-malarial that helps control lupus. It takes about 6 months to take full effect. I have been on it for 9.5 years.

It's a great maintenance drug, but it can mess with your eyes. My field of vision was not good. The opthamologist sent me to the retina dude. After another hour and a half of testing, he concluded that the field of vision issues were not caused by the drug, but that I require serious monitoring every six months.


The drug can build up on the retina affecting the rods and cones. Apparently, they change color and sometimes that shows as a bulls eye lesion as in this picture. I saw the pictures and this is not happening in my eyes. Yay!

People who take plaquenil, please follow your schedule of eye exams. People who have been on plaquenil for over 5 years and those over age 60 are at particular risk. Just do it!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your excellent article about lupus treatment and eye care.