Patients taking Ozempic and similar weight loss drugs are reporting cases of sudden vision loss, including temporary and even permanent blindness. While these claims have circulated on Reddit for years, a recent study suggests a possible correlation between semaglutide—the active ingredient in Ozempic, Wegovy, and other GLP-1 drugs—and a rare eye condition that can lead to irreversible damage. Though researchers have not established a direct causal link, these findings have sparked growing concerns among both doctors and patients.
‘Dad permanently blinded’
In July 2024, Ozempic made headlines after a study came out linking this and similar medications like Wegovy to an eye condition that can cause irreversible damage and permanent vision loss, including total blindness in the affected eye. The condition, non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), causes a blood flow blockage to the optic nerve, similar to a stroke.
Sufferers often wake up one morning to find their vision significantly impaired in one eye, and this does not improve over time. Diabetes is a known risk factor, but studies have found that semaglutide causes an increased risk for NAION after controlling for the diabetic risk.
After the first of these studies was published in July, individual reports of eye problems from patients taking these drugs spiked on Reddit.
“News of Ozempic causing sudden blindness went under the radar recently because people don’t know that this isn’t diabetic retinopathy,” wrote user StrangeRemark. “It’s a stroke in the eye that often causes permanent blindness. Dad was just hospitalized last week.”
The Redditor confirmed in their headline that the condition had “permanently blinded” his dad.
Another Ozempic patient reported blurry vision just after the July study came out.
“I took my second dose of 10 ml on Wednesday,” said josetheconquerer. “Almost immediately noticed eye strain and my vision getting blurry particularly in the left eye. Had trouble reading subtitles.”
Investigation links Ozempic to more eye conditions that can cause blindness
An investigative review published on Jan. 30, 2025, linked two additional conditions that could cause permanent vision loss to semaglutide drugs like Ozempic. The case study focused on nine patients, seven with vision loss from NAION, one with papillitis (inflammation of the optic nerve head), and one with paracentral acute middle maculopathy (PAMM).
Such a narrow study could not draw a causal link between these conditions and drugs like Ozempic but raised concerns about the potential for eye damage related to how fast and effective they are at treating high blood sugar issues.
“In some cases, it is hypothesized that rapid correction of hyperglycemia induced by these drugs, rather than a toxic effect of the drugs, could be associated with the ophthalmic complications reported,” researchers concluded.
Patients on Reddit are reporting vision issues
Reports of vision issues from patients taking these medications have been coming out for years. In July 2023, Reddit user ummgodidk reported blurry vision after increasing their Ozempic dose and experiencing headaches from trying to work on a computer like that.
“I’m currently trying to work, crying because I’m so frustrated. No one is seeing any issues but there clearly is one, I’m now trying to get a referral for an ophthalmologist,” they wrote.
“I’m so sick of headaches. My job is to stare at the screen all day and it hurts. I’m just so upset.”
More recently, user Hot-Singer-3297 told the story of how they woke up one night with total blindness in one eye after taking Ozempic. Thankfully, their vision seemed to restore itself within minutes, but this plus the reports of vision loss among some Ozempic patients scared them away from an otherwise effective drug.
“My eyesight thankfully is back but I never had made the connection before that semaglutide might have been what caused that random issue,” they said. “The thing is a lot of times when people suffer vision problems like NAION that’s irreversible damage…I got lucky. I then followed up with my optometrist again and he told me he did suspect it has something to do with it.”
How likely is it for Ozempic patients to suffer NAION?
According to the study from last July, which looked at the medical records of 16,800 Boston-area patients, 200 people with diabetes took semaglutide, and 17 of those suffered NAION—four times the rate of those who didn’t take the drug. Those taking semaglutide medications for obesity were seven times more likely to develop the condition.
According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, about 0.54 out of 100,000 people will experience NAION, though the risk increases for those over 50. The average age of onset is 66, and white people are more at risk than people of color. Gender does not appear to impact the chances of developing the condition.
In addition to diabetes, smoking, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia are associated with an increased risk of NAION.
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