So many men have used Viagra, and other erectile dysfunction drugs like Cialis and Levitra, that the various side effects of these ED drugs have been well-documented. Now, research indicates that there is an association between Viagra and other ED drugs with a risk of melanoma skin cancer, suggesting that users of ED medication may be 84 percent more likely to develop the serious and potentially deadly skin cancer.

Study Links ED Medication To Melanoma Skin Cancer

In April 2014, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that found that men using Viagra (also known as sildenafil) are at a significantly increased risk of developing melanoma. In the study, researchers reviewed data from more than 25,000 participants in the Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study. The researchers found that when compared to men not using the sildenafil drug, men with a history of Viagra use were twice as likely to develop melanoma, while men currently taking the drug were at an 84 percent increased risk of developing Viagra melanoma.

Even when accounting for participants’ histories of skin cancer, ultraviolet light exposure, and other kinds of cancer and major illnesses, researchers said that the Viagra skin cancer findings remained the same. Additionally, there was no signs of erectile dysfunction itself being associated with an increased risk of developing melanoma, according to the Viagra study.

Potential Causes of Viagra Skin Cancer

Viagra is part of a class of drugs known as phosphodiesterase-5 (PDG5A) inhibitors. There are many other drugs in this class, including Cialis and Levitra. Physicians involved in the JAMA study explained that one of the key ingredients in Viagra, sildenafil, may be a trigger in promoting melanoma development; however, researchers have not yet established a direct cause. Scientists theorize that Viagra may increase the risk of melanoma because it affects the same genetic pathway that allows the skin cancer to become more invasive.

Although Viagra, manufactured by Pfizer Inc., is the only ED medicine that contains the drug sildenafil, which was the subject of the JAMA study, other ED medications contain drugs that operate through similar biomechanisms, including PDG5A inhibitors like Cialis and Levitra.

Signs of Viagra Melanoma

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, and melanoma is the deadliest form of this disease because melanoma is extremely difficult to stop once it starts to spread to other areas of the body.

Like most cancers, early detection and treatment provide the best survival rates. According to Cancer Treatment Centers of America, some signs of skin cancer melanoma that Viagra users should watch out for are:

• New spots/freckles/moles on the skin
• A change in size, shape or color of an existing mole
• Sores that do not heal
• Pigment, redness or swelling that spreads outside the border of a spot to the surrounding skin
• Itchiness, tenderness or pain
• Changes in texture or scales, oozing or bleeding from an existing mole