Plaquenil is a medication that was originally
used to prevent or treat malaria, a serious but rare disease caused by bites
from infected mosquitoes. It turns out that this drug is helpful in treating
inflammatory diseases such as certain types of inflammatory disease.
Inflammatory disease occurs when the body's immune system attacks its own
healthy tissue. Some diseases treated with Plaquenil include:
- Lupus, which causes fever, rashes, skin problems, and other
symptoms.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis, a condition that causes pain and swelling in the
joints of your hands and feet.
- Sjorgren’s Syndrome, which causes dry eyes and dry mouth.
Plaquenil lowers your
immune system’s ability to cause inflammation. This can help control symptoms
like rashes, skin and mouth sores and joint pain. However, Plaquenil has side
effects that can affect your eyes. A rare side effect of Plaquenil is damage to
the eye's retina, which is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. Using Plaquenil for a long period of time may harm
the retina, causing serious vision loss. People with retinal damage from
Plaquenil are not aware at first that they are losing vision. Unfortunately,
once they lose a severe amount of vision loss, it is permanent.
If you take Plaquenil, it is very important to see an eye doctor who can examine your retina and provide any other testing and imaging, to check your retina for problems before serious damage occurs. Please schedule an eye exam with eye doctors at Center for Sight 508-730-2020, visit Center for Sight, or www.facebook.com/centerforsightfallriver to schedule an appointment.
Center for Sight is conveniently located at 1565 North Main Street, Suite 406, Fall River, Massachusetts 02720 for patients from Massachusetts or Rhode Island.
