Aripiprazole induced myopia - case report and literature review: Aripiprazole induced myopia.

Introduction: Aripiprazole is an antipsychotic used in the treatment of different disorders. The most common side effects are dizziness, insomnia, akathisia, activation, nausea and vomiting. Ophthalmologic side effects are rare. We report a case of myopia induced by aripiprazole.

Methods: Case study and literature review on aripiprazole-induced myopia.

Results: a 21-year-old male, with a first psychotic episode, developed myopia two weeks after initiating aripiprazole 20 mg/day. The symptoms of blurred vision were solved eight to ten days after switching to paliperidone. To date, seven cases of aripiprazole-induced myopia were reported in literature, all of them related to the oral formulation.

Discussion: in the present case, as seen in seven previously reported cases, the patient presented with myopia after the initiation of aripiprazol and the problem was solved after discontinuation of the drug. Apparently, this effect is not dose dependent, since the eight patients described were medicated with different dosages, from 3 to 20 mg per day. The onset of the symptoms was within a month, from three to thirty days, and the resolution after discontinuation was reported to be from three to fourteen days. Psychiatrists and ophthalmologists should be alert to the possibility of aripiprazole-induced myopia. When an ophthalmologist detects this problem, the patient should be referred to his psychiatrist to proceed with the prescription changes.