Is Hydroxychloroquine Safe And Does It Have Any Side Effects?

Posted on Thu, 15 Oct 2015

Question: Today I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and one of the prescriptions was hydroxychloroquine, I was told to see and opthomolgist for this drug can have significant negative effects on the eye, vision, etc. and this medication takes 4-12 weeks to work, I don't want to take the chance of having serious eye problems, I can't tolerate NSAI, I don't want to take this medicine. The other prescription is prednisone , which I've taken for 3 weeks already with little results, ie, I'm still having severe flare-up, not being able to go out of the house.
Thank You for your help

Answered by Dr. Dr. Shruti Rijhwani (51 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Dont worry about the side effects.

Detailed Answer:
Dear Madam,

Thank you for posting your query on HCM.

Well looking into your problem would like to tell you that Hydroxychloroquine is a safe drug and we have a wide experience with the same . Yes it has the potential to cause eye damage but thats very rare plus your doctor will monitor you for the same, so he will withdraw whenever he feels that side effects are coming he will stop the medication.

Also the disease will cause more problem rather than drugs , so please comply with what your doctor is saying . Also you can talk about considering other drugs like methotrexate , leflunomide if you are worried about taking hydroxychloroquine to your treating doctor . If you have any query please let me know.

Take care.

Dr. Shruti

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar