Retinopathy and Keratopathy Associated with Chronic Tamoxifen Medication

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Tamoxifen retinopathy is one of the uncommon side effects together with keratopathy, crystalline retinopathy and cystoid macula edema when tamoxifen is administered with high dose to breast cancer patients. We report here a case of retinopathy patient with five years of tamoxifen application. METHOD: A 46 year old female breast cancer patient complained about decreased visual acuity in both eyes after taking total amount of 37.28 g tamoxifen (20 mg/day) for 5 years. Whorl-like superficial corneal opacity was detected and yellowish white macular crystalline deposits were seen in both eyes. Moreover, decreased b wave amplitude of ERG was detected in electroretinography and RPE atrophy was found in FAG. RESULT: The patient stopped taking tamoxifen immediately after diagnosed with tamoxifen retinopathy. Two months later, it showed decreased corneal opacity and improved visual acuity in the left eye but also showed increased macular crystalline deposits in the left eye.