Cyclosporine

Is Cyclosporine safe?

Boxed warnings; decades of use and monitoring

Systemic cyclosporine carries boxed warnings. It raises the risk of serious infection. It also raises the risk of cancers, especially lymphoma and skin cancer, because it suppresses immune surveillance. It is toxic to the kidney, and the harm depends on the dose. It raises blood pressure. Other common effects are tremor, excess hair growth and gum overgrowth. It can also cause high potassium, high lipids and raised blood sugar. Doctors must monitor blood levels. Absorption varies, and many drugs change its metabolism, including grapefruit juice. ²³

Restasis eye drops deliver very little drug to the bloodstream. The main complaint is burning on instillation. ⁴

Kidney damage and high blood pressure are the main ones. Suppressing T cells also brings infections and cancers. All of these carry boxed warnings on the whole-body products. Blood-level monitoring is standard. The eye drops mostly cause burning on application. ²³⁴

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Reference information only, not medical advice. Drawn from the Cyclosporine article, fact-checked against the cited sources. No dosing anywhere on this site.