Vision: A Quick High for Sex May Damage Vision

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Vision: A Quick High for Sex May Damage Vision

By RONI CARYN RABIN

Users call them poppers: a class of chemicals called alkyl nitrites that can be

inhaled for a quick high, or to enhance sexual pleasure. Now doctors in France

are warning that they can also cause eye damage and impaired vision.

In a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine, the ophthalmologists

describe four cases over three months in which patients' vision was affected

after they used poppers at parties. Several complained of seeing bright dots of

light, and retinal imaging revealed damage to the photoreceptors in the fovea,

part of the retina that is responsible for the sharp central vision needed for

driving or reading.

Two of the patients' vision returned to normal over time, though their retinas

may still have sustained damage, the doctors said. In one, a 27-year-old woman,

the impairment persisted for at least a month.

The damage may occur because nitric oxide affects photoreceptor function and

metabolism, the doctors said.

And they warned that the problem was probably underreported. " We believe in fact

that this complication is quite common, " one of the authors, Dr. Michel Paques,

wrote in an e-mail, adding that the doctors have seen several more patients

since the letter was accepted for publication. " Preliminary data indeed suggest

that only a minority of consumers will show up at the ophthalmologist. "

There were no severe cases of vision loss, and in some cases the retinal damage

was mild. Still, Dr. Paques said, " even a single dose of poppers may affect the

retina. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/health/research/19vision.html