Ocular effects of oral lithium in humans

Thirteen healthy adult subjects, 34.2 +/- 7.4 years of age received oral lithium carbonate, 900 or 1200 mg daily for 10 days. Refraction, visual acuity, visual fields, corneal sensation, basal tear secretion, ocular motility, convergence amplitude, near point of convergence, Hertel exophthalmometry, pupillary reflexes, intraocular pressure, voluntary and pilocarpine-induced accommodation, and biomicroscopy and ophthalmoscopy of the anterior and posterior ocular segments were determined 4 days prior to starting lithium, 10 days after commencing lithium, and 14 days after discontinuing lithium. Some subjective visual or ocular complaints were reported, but no clinically or statistically significant change occurred in any parameter studied. There were slight, non-significant tendencies toward constriction of the measured visual field, reduction of voluntary and pilocarpine-induced accommodation, and reduction of near convergence amplitude while taking lithium; the former two were reversed when lithium was discontinued, the latter was not.