Study says Viagra can be used to treat Raynaud's symptoms

Study says Viagra can be used to treat Raynaud's symptoms

Thus far, Viagra was only used to treat erectile dysfunction. However, things might very well change in the future. A research published in the journal Circulation reports that Viagra could also be handy for those suffering from Raynaud's phenomenon.

This disease, which is seen in nearly 5% of the population leads to numbness, itch sensations, aching of fingers and in extreme cases even gangrene. Caused by contraction of the blood vessels either due to chilly weather or mental stress, they restrict the blood flow to toes and fingers.
The Viagra research was conducted on 18 patients, most of them female and whose Raynaud's symptoms were not cured by general medication.

They were asked to take Viagra twice a day for four weeks and the improvement was pretty much evident. The patients were seen to have enhanced blood flow in the capillaries and even the Raynaud's attacks were lower in number. While their condition got better, even the length of the attacks were shorter in duration. Not only that, even the ones experiencing severe skin pains began to get healed and the ulcers on the others started disappearing.

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The study gained credence when it was seen that these effects were not evident when the patients were told to use placebo.

It was learnt that Viagra leads blood vessels to expand in a diverse manner than when the general drugs. This was evident when patients did not respond to placebo.

It is common knowledge that Viagra has grave side effects like heart attacks, stroke, loss of vision etc. However, during this research not one of the patients complained of any such severe problems. If any, the reverberations were mild like headache, pain in the muscles, nauseating, giddiness, and light nasal troubles.

Post this revelation, researchers feel that Viagra can represent "a promising new approach in patients with microcirculatory disorders."