Acute transient myopia induced by famotidine: A case report and literature review

Acute drug-induced transient myopia has been associated with various sulfa-containing medications. We present a novel case of famotidine causing acute bilateral myopia in a young woman. A 22-year-old woman presented with bilateral blurry distance vision for two weeks. An ophthalmic exam revealed a significant increase of myopia in both eyes, by -3.25 diopters in the right and -5.50 diopters in the left. Recently added oral famotidine was identified as the causative agent and discontinued promptly. Topical atropine eye drop was prescribed along with cessation of famotidine. The patient's refractive status returned to baseline with the best corrected visual acuity of 1.0 in both eyes at one-month follow-up visit. Early recognition and discontinuation of the offending medication are crucial to preventing permanent visual loss due to drug-induced transient myopia and angle closure glaucoma. Drug-induced myopia should be included in the differential diagnosis when evaluating patients with a significant acute myopic shift. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of transient myopia induced by famotidine.