Visual Disturbances Associated With Statins: A Case Report and Literature Review Publisher



Atapour A ; Panahishokouh M ; Momenzadeh M
Source: Clinical Medicine Insights: Case Reports Published:2025

Abstract

Statins are a class of drugs that are vital for lowering blood lipid levels and reducing the risk of both primary and secondary cardiovascular diseases. These drugs are generally considered safe; however, some individuals may experience side effects, such as muscle pain, headache, fatigue, myopathy, and gastrointestinal disorders. One of the less frequently reported side effects of statins is visual disturbances. We report the case of a 51-year-old woman who developed persistent headache, blurred vision, and diplopia shortly after initiating Atorvastatin. These visual disturbances recurred when treatment was switched to Rosuvastatin and Lovastatin. Comprehensive neurological evaluation, including brain MRI, was unremarkable. All symptoms resolved completely after permanent discontinuation of statin therapy, indicating a rare but significant statin-associated visual adverse event. Due to the significance of reporting this complication, this study aims to present a case of a patient who experienced visual impairment associated with the use of atorvastatin, rosuvastatin, and, to a lesser extent, lovastatin. © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).