I am 1 1/2 year post STEMI & 4 stents. I have worn glasses for a while due to needing them for vision and driving. Just over the last few months my eyesight has gone blurry on long vision, so I went to get them checked as I had just bought new glasses and used last years prescription. In less than a year my sight has deteriorated.I now have cataracts. I asked if this could be due to meds and they said ...eh probably not.....I came home and googled it and yes Beta Blockers and aspirin can/may cause increased risk of cataracts........WTH? Has anybody else had this.........Oh and I'm 71 and yes I may have got them anyway BUT my eyesight was pretty good in June last year when I got my eye check....I am on Bisopril, Aspirin, Empagliflozen Entresto and Ezetimbe
Cataracts: I am 1 1/2 year post STEMI... - British Heart Fou...
Cataracts
not a good idea to believe Dr Google over real health professionals.
I had cataracts removed during my 70s. Rather time consuming but not painful.
It’s been wonderful to have proper full vision without glasses.
Sooty
It was the British Ophthalmic journal
my husband has been on betablockers and aspirin for 20+ years. His shortsightedness has gradually improved over the years (apparently this can happen!) and he is just starting to develop cataracts. These are so slow to ripen in his case that he’d be about 110 years old before they would need dealing with.
Hi Velda1, I have cataract in both eyes, the first one will be removed two weeks on Monday and I'm not looking forward to it as I understand you are not allowed to bend and obviously not allowed to drive for a number of weeks. I'm quite an active person, so I know I'll find this hard to cope with. I also take Empagliflozin and Entresto but no one has said the cataract was caused by taking these drugs. I'm 75 and I'll still need to wear glasses due to age related eyesight deterioration, but at the moment everything is blurred so hopefully things will improve when the cataracts are removed. Wishing you well going forward. Take care.
I think most of us by the time we reach our 60s and 70s will develop cataracts to one degree or another. My left eye (the weaker one ) was done 3 years ago and to be honest I didnt notice much difference in my vision other than the brilliance in colours when I closed my right eye. Moving on, last May my right eye was operated on and the unexpected consequence was that my distance vision has improved but I now need glasses for reading ! According to my optician this can sometimes happen.
I’ve been on heart meds for over 20 years and have cataracts developing very slowly - one eye more than the other. My older sister had the same issue with her eyes. As has been suggested in an earlier reply, stay off Google unless you just want to know every day stuff like “how old is xxxxx actor”.
I take google with a pinch of salt but it was from British Ophthalmic journal and other NHS medical sites
My OH, similar ops to you, suddenly went blind in right eye. It happened so suddenly he waited a day before he told me. Diagnosed as cataracts so had the op.That was about 3 yrs ago. Now he needs laser surgery as cataract op can cause thickening of something behind the eye. Waiting for appointment.
Good luck.
sorry to hear your trouble. The issue now is not how the cataracts came about, but what to do about them. A simple, brief and virtually painlesss op to replace lenses in your eyes will restore a Bright New World. Good luck
Tavishock
I have worn glasses since I was 15 and now use varifocals. I was told 3 years ago that I had cataracts developing. After my eye check this year I was referred to have cataract op. Right eye vision couldn't be 'corrected' with lenses. I had it done 2 weeks ago . I was told I could drive if I could read number plate 20m away. I can and so have driven . ( Wearing my glasses with clip on shades and the right lens removed) You might find it v bright. I've always been sensitive to light so need the sunglasses. I've only driven a short distance.
I was told after OHP that my eyesight could be affected for a while and started to be aware of slight blur on Right. You are advised not to have eye tests for 6 months.
I'm 68 . A lot of people in my social group have been having cataract operations . There are 3 of us going through the process at present. So my inclination is to blame age , not medication .
I’m shortsighted and astigmatic. My shortsightedness is slowly inproving, we do get more longsighted as we age.
I was diagnosed with incipient cataracts well before my cardiac event and the resultant medications. That is stable and not getting any worse, I’m 73 later this year.
Oh, Dr Google is a canard, a quack, a snake oil salesman, a distraction and getting worse. Stay away from him.
I've been on numerous meds for PAF for the last 30 years including Aspirin in the early days, Sotalol, Bisoprolol, Flecainide etc, etc, and only just had my cataracts done. I've had to have verifocal spectacles for a good period of that time. It's only in the last couple of years that my prescription kept changing every 6 months costing me an arm and a leg every time until it got to the stage where my right eye couldn't focus much on anything either with or without glasses.
I've always declared my meds to the optician and never been told or heard that they cause cataracts. Just another age ( (I'm not far behind you age-wise) related issue that I've put it down to.
Well first of all everyone, cataract ops are brilliant ! I had one done and the results are amazing. From going from coloured halos and blurred vision to everything being in focus and with out that yellow tinge is miraculous. Obviously everyone will be fearful of the op, but it is just a short means to an end. All you feel is painless pushing around.
My experience has been one eye developing a fast growing cataract were my vision dropped at one point plus 5 stages in six months. I had only just gone on Bisoprolol at the time of the cataract surgery so it was no that. However I had been on 500mg steroid tablets for a while. At present the other eye is developing a fast growing cataract. Yesterday I had another vision check and thats my third new prescription in seven months. BUT it’s not bad enough for NHS treatment. So I have made the decision to go private to get it done and dusted.
Fast changes in vision are too frustrating. It’s not cheap but mental wellbeing is so important. I would actually go for a cataract op now, right this moment. It’s just 10-20 minutes, in fact the pre op vision checks take longer. YOU WILL BE AMAZED WITH THE RESULTS. !!! DO IT !!!
Hi, I'm being very nosy but what is the rough cost of going private? Glad your vision is good now
Newmedica have branches over the U.K. and are used by the NHS and starts from £2,300.
Is that per eye?
Yes, also depends on what lens you have. You get a range if options where nhs is usually just distance.
yes, my cataracts grew exceedingly quickly. I was on Rosuvastatin which I believe was the cause of my confusion and cataracts - both listed as side effects. I no longer take statins.
I;m not on stating as Icant tolerate them so on the ezetimbe instead
hi. I have had glasses most of my life usually changing slightly every 2 to 3 years but after 2 heart attacks and 2 stents my eyes changed quite a lot in a very short time I do think all the meds I’m on has a lot to do with it but now I’m quite stable so is my eyes sight but I do have cataracts which is new so I’m wondering now if it’s the meds like you one of my meds is bisoprol like you it will be good to know if anyone else has the same experience. Hope everything goes well for you .
You too. x
Hi I had cataracts in my 40s and was not on any meds. Whilst scary I had multi focal lenses planted and have not needed glasses for oast 20 yrs. Hubby also had his done couple of years ago, again no meds. He went from long sighted to short.Cataracts so common as we age. Good luck with it x
My sister had a diabetic eye screen in October and they thought they could detect the beginning of a cataract in one eye. By January 13th the following year she needed urgent cataract surgery on both eyes as her vision was so bad she could no longer see to drive. She wasn't even 60 at the time, and not taking any heart meds at all.My own cataracts developed fairly quickly, one eye has been done but proved to be less than straightforward, so I've had to wait for the second one, and I won't know how much benefit I will get from the ops until the second one is done and healed.
I’m in the same position as you, and on the same medication after two open heart surgeries. I’m now 71 and last year I went to Boots for an eye test because I was needing to see my high street optician every 6 months at £400 a pop. They diagnosed cataracts and within 6 weeks (4 years if you live in Wales) both eyes are now at 100%, so happy. I’ve never heard anyone mention the medication could have been the trigger for the whole episode. You’re are legally banned from driving for a week, but the clarity of seeing the world again in full colour is amazing.
Thanks, so glad you can see Mine are just starting but I vision even though I wore glasses was still pretty good until about January this year when I got blurriness...here's what I found online ......bjo.bmj.com/content/93/9/1210
Interesting. Never knew that!! Thanks. Mine must have been getting steadily worse. I was getting to the point where I avoided driving at night because of the glare and the blur was so gradual I only knew how bad it was (even marginally better with glasses) after the surgery. You will be so pleased when it’s time for yours. I only wish they gave you the option of bifocal lenses to save this constant scrabble for reading glasses. Good luck.
From what I have found the link between cataracts and beta blockers was identified over 20 years ago in the Blue Mountains Eye Study (Australia) - a more recent study in Korea indicated no link: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/363...
Cataracts usually develop over years, and are heavily influenced by ultra-violet (sun) exposure - they are easy to treat with corrective surgery under local anaesthetic
However the consequences of not taking Beta-blockers for a heart condition may be less easy to correct
So in the end it's about weighing up risks
When your beta-blocker was prescribed it was done in your best interests - the doctor may or may not have know about the risk of them speeding up cataract development, but if they did they also knew that cataracts are easier to correct than heart damage - do you think you would have refused the medication if you had known about all the risks they present? Compare that to the risk you take every time you travel in a car
No, I would not have BUT at the same time its knowledge they must have had for 20 years...and instead of telling you that this could happen which personally I would have preferred..especially if you mention blurred vision to them..... you are hit from the left with another side effect. Yes, I know it can be corrected very easily but I do believe knowledge is power and the more knowledge you have the better for you to understand what is happening to your body
Hi, I'm 68 and had cataracts in both eyes sorted a few years before starting the cocktail of heart drugs. I also had to have laser capsule treatment subsequently. 20/20 vision until 45 then needed reading glasses then bam, you're old! The deterioration was fairly rapid once it had been noticed; less than a year. Surgery per eye is about 10 to 15 mins and the NHS are also using private contracts, where I am, to help deliver so wait isn't too excessive. I would recommend you go and get them done and don't worry about the cause as you'll never be able to prove it's the drugs and they won't get better on their own.
Hello. Velda 1 . I had both eyes done and my ability to see colours has improved a great deal. However I have dry eyes as a result have to use a warm mask every day to enable me to see properly. My eye sight hasn’t changed a lot and I still use the same reading glasses as before and don’t need other glasses. It took a bit of time to get over the op which surprised me . I felt tired and energy levels low. Many people have no problems after .
Ult
I'm 77. I started getting cataracts around 15 years ago but very very slow growing. However this past 2 years they have got much worse. even the glasses i got 6 months ago are no longer good. I was referred to have them done two years ago because they have badly affected driving at night which i can no longer do. However, because I have extremely bad spinal problems they keep putting it off. They want me to lie flat to have it done. I haven't been able to lie on my back for 20 years. My brother in law had his done while sitting up. I just don't get it. I went for pre op 11 months ago. The prescription they had then is way out of date now.
Interesting post, thank you! I had a heart valve replaced last July, Atrial Fibrillation set in and stayed until Cardioversion in Dec, so far so good. Experienced fleeting moments of double vision, same deterioration as yours in right eye went from +0.50 to -0.25, so an quick 0.75 deterioration, optician says due to fast developing cataracts and implied it may be due to operation. Been on varying dose of Bisoprolol to manage AFib, now on 3.75 have been wondering how to get off it, now I have an incentive. While my heart rate is much more regular it still sits/rests in the 80’s, so not sure GP will be keen. No mention of Bisoprolol causing cataracts - if I had been told of the possibility I still would have taken it though, I had a very erratic heart rate with the AFib, but your post may have answered a question, thank you.
Check with your doc please before coming off any drugs. I am going to see my gp next week hopefully and I'm going to talk about this. Bisopril seems to not be so bad as other Beta blockers for this but I wish they would tell you or at least acknowledge this could happen. I know I would still have taken it,
Agree entirely, I found Bisoprolol challenging each time dosage changed but overall very effective. Don’t worry, I don’t change any meds without Dr’s advice. Interesting to note you are on Bisoprolol and aspirin , I had to come off aspirin when I needed to go on the Bisoprolol but that may be valve related.
I’ve been told the same , and like yourself , on aspirin beta blocker and ezitimibe , so very interesting
I've been on bisoprolol for many years. I started to develop cataracts a few years ago. The optician advised me it would be many years before I needed cataract surgery. However they deteriorated pretty quickly and I had both eyes done. I don't know if bisoprolol contributed to the problem. The surgery was straightforward taking just 7 minutes for each eye. I'm glad I had them done. I was amazed at the colour difference. I wore a jumper which I thought was grey but I now know it's blue!
Aspirin and Antidepressants 
Should I stop aspirin before non cardiac surgery.
is this usual?
Tramadol Medication 
Clopidogrel
