Acute effects of sildenafil (viagra) on blue-on-yellow and white-on-white Humphrey perimetry

Objective: To study the effects of sildenafil on blue-on-yellow and white-on-white Humphrey visual field (HVF). Materials and Methods: Healthy subjects, ages 20 to 38 years, were prospectively randomized to active drug (n = 5) or placebo (n = 3) groups. Blue-on-yellow and white-on-white HVF testing was performed before and I hour after masked dosing of sildenafil 200 mg or placebo. Changes in mean deviation (MD) were compared between groups. Results: Three of three placebo and four of five sildenafil subjects had no change on HVF. One of five sildenafil subjects had a decrease in MD of 17.9 dB and 4.7 dB on blue-on-yellow and white-on-white HVF testing, respectively. This subject reported more systemic side effects than other subjects. Conclusions: Sildenafil has no effect on HVF testing in most persons; however, sildenafil caused an acute abnormality of HVF testing in one subject, who experienced pronounced nonvisual systemic symptoms; this effect was greater on blue-on-yellow than white-on-white HVF.