Optic atrophy during chlorpromazine therapy.

Chlorpromazine hydrochloride, a synthetic phenothiazine, has been widely employed in psychiatric illnesses, and an extensive literature exists on its side-effects; many reports describe ocular changes, including an oculo-dermal melanosis with deposition of pigment in the retina (Feldman and Frierson, I964; Zelickson and Zeller, I964; Cairns, Capoore, and Gregory, I965; Brit. med. J., I967), depigmented spots in the fundus (Zelickson and Zeller, I964), and corneal and scleral pigmentation and lenticular opacities (Greiner and Berry, I 964). Chlorpromazine has not so far been incriminated as a cause of optic atrophy, the only instance of optic atrophy during phenothiazine therapy having been reported in a mentally-retarded girl with epileptic tendencies who was treated with perphenazine and subsequently with large dosage of thioridazine (Bonaccorsi, i967). The development of optic atrophy during therapy with large doses of chlorpromazine deserves attention because of the serious and permanent nature of the injury.