My Vuity Story
This is copy and pasted from original Facebook post on April 12, 2022. To see the Facebook post, click here.
WARNING: The eye patch may look cool, but my Vuity story hasn’t been. I was prescribed Vuity drops at an optometry visit where I just had eye exams done. We’d also heard about them on the Today Show . The new drops by Allergan Abbvie are designed to help certain patients not have to use readers or bifocals. With clean eye exams, no known underlying issues, and my age — I was an ideal candidate. I was not a “susceptible patient”, nor did I have any pre-existing retinal disease — so the warning label didn’t pertain to me.
About 5 weeks after using them as prescribed, I suddenly lost complete vision in my left eye one evening. You can imagine — super scary! Turns out my retina had detached in a big way. Not only did it tear away from the edges … it also tore away from the center of my eye. Surgery was scheduled for the next business day. Recovery is a long and frustrating process. There is a chance I won’t fully restore my vision the way it was before, but so far things are healing as hoped. There’s also a chance I will need cataract surgery in 1-2 years due to the retina surgery.
WHY WAS I PRESCRIBED THE DROPS?
1. I don’t fall into a category that Vuity’s warning label mentions.
As you can see by my presciption at the time the drops were prescribed, I am not a high myope.
2. My eye exams didn’t show any indicators that I should avoid the drops based on their warnings.
UPDATE: A retinal surgeon — who is following cases like mine (and has a patient who had BOTH retinas detach while using Vuity) — explained the theoretical mechanism (how the drops can cause the retinal detachment.
1. The Vuity drops activate the pupillary constriction (your iris contracts making your pupil smaller).
2. This pupillary constriction causes the vitreous traction (forward movement of the lens and the jelly in your eye).
3. This vitreous traction pulls on the retina
4. That can pull the retina so much that it tears and detaches.
(Even if it doesn’t tear the retina, the same movement can cause distorted vision because it’s pulling on your macula, the center part of your retina).
Just thought I’d share what I’m learning in both medical and layman’s terms.
The purpose of my post is to share my story so that others can consider the possibility of this happening to them or their patients — and then make up their own minds about the risks.
I invite optometrists and ophthalmologists to discuss the possibility (or probability) that these drops caused my retinal detachment. Let’s start a dialogue about whether or not this drug is safe enough to be on the market as a nationwide ad campaign is going. Am I an anomaly? Was this just coincidence? I’d love to hear thoughts from experts and learn what I can.
There are worse things happening in the world, but if I can help prevent someone from sharing my experience — then I’ve done what I can. Share with anyone who is considering taking or prescribing Vuity — as Allergan is currently heavily marketing their VUITY™ (pilocarpine HCl ophthalmic solution) 1.25% eye drops on TV.
Pic 1 - Current / Pic 2 - slide on left is my good right eye, slide on right shows the detached retina / Pic 3 - Vuity bottle / Pic 4 - My post-anesthesia face after surgery / Pic 5 - Day after surgery #allerganeye #vuity #vuityeyedrops (tried tagging Vuity, but their settings prevent it).
