Study finds no link between retinal damage and long-term use of impotence drugs

Researchers randomized 244 healthy men, with or without mild erectile dysfunction, to six months of daily treatment with slidenafil (Viagra) 50 mg, tadalafil (Cialis) 5 mg or placebo. Subjects were between 30 and 65 years old, with no ophthalmologic abnormalities or risk factors.  No clinically significant side effects and no difference in electroretinography findings were observed among the three groups at 3 months, 6 months or during a post-treatment follow-up 4 to 6 weeks later. However, the authors caution that their findings can't be generalized to patients who have coexisting systemic or ocular disease.