Poppers May Damage Your Eyes

From a little-noticed October story in the New York Times:

In a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine, the ophthalmologists describe four cases over three months in which patients’ vision was affected after they used poppers at parties. Several complained of seeing bright dots of light, and retinal imaging revealed damage to the photoreceptors in the fovea, part of the retina that is responsible for the sharp central vision needed for driving or reading. Two of the patients’ vision returned to normal over time, though their retinas may still have sustained damage, the doctors said. In one, a 27-year-old woman, the impairment persisted for at least a month. The damage may occur because nitric oxide affects photoreceptor function and metabolism, the doctors said.

Doctors say the problem is probably very underreported.