More than 23 million men worldwide have filled Viagra prescriptions since the drug got FDA approval in 1998. So many men have used Viagra, and the erectile dysfunction drugs Cialis and Levitra, that the side effects have been well-documented, including vision-threatening eye complications (seeing blue is a symptom) and hearing loss. Should we now add melanoma to the plate?
In a recent study published online in JAMA Medicine, investigators from Harvard reported that men who used viagra for ED had a significantly elevated risk of melanoma, even when they controlled for major risk factors including family history of melanoma, sun exposure, and UV intensity in the state of residence. This study does not prove cause and effect, so translation to the bedside should be done with caution. But it raises some very interesting questions and forces us to focus on the aberrations in biological…
