Past studies have indicated that there is an association between Viagra side effects and skin cancer, suggesting that users of the medication may be 84 percent more likely to develop the serious and potentially deadly skin cancer or melanoma. However, evidence has come to light that the lifestyle factors of many Viagra users may be the actual cause to the link of skin cancer.

Viagra Skin Cancer Risk

A study published in April 2014 in the Journal of American Medical Association Internal Medicine (JAMA) has linked the popular erectile dysfunction drug Viagra to an increased risk of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.

The Viagra melanoma study analyzed data from more than 25,000 men who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and found that men who had recently used sildenafil – the active ingredient in Viagra – had nearly twice the risk of developing melanoma after adjusting for other risk factors including age, body mass index, smoking history, number of sunburns, mole counts, hair color, family history of melanoma, sun exposure, and use of other erectile dysfunction treatments.

Researchers have long suspected that Viagra, and other drugs in the same class including Cialis and Levitra, may increase the risk of melanoma because the class of drugs (known as phosphodiesterase 5A inhibitors) affect the same genetic pathway that allows skin cancer to become more invasive.

Researchers Suggest Lifestyle Factor

While this study that men who took sildenafil (the generic name for Viagra) were 84 percent more likely to develop melanoma skin cancer over the next 10 years, researchers from New York University contend that the JAMA Viagra study does not show that Viagra causes melanoma, only that there might be a connection between the two. Lead researcher, Lisa Loeb of NYU, stated that it is possible the men who took Viagra also had other lifestyle factors that put them at a higher risk of skin cancer to begin with.

The conclusions of the NYU study were based on data from over 20,000 men in Sweden. Between 2006 and 2012, over 4,065 of them were diagnosed with melanoma. Of these men, 435 had used a drug for erectile dysfunction, such as Viagra (sildenafil), Levitra (vardenafil), or Cialis (tadalafil).

Men on these drugs had higher rates of melanoma, but there was no dose-relationship — meaning higher doses of Viagra were not associated with higher rates of melanoma.

Researchers decided that the increased risk of Viagra skin cancer was more likely due to the fact that men who can afford Viagra can also afford more sunny vacations. Sun exposure is the biggest risk factor for melanoma.

The conclusions were published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and researchers warned, “What our study results show is that groups of men who are more likely to get malignant melanoma include those with higher disposable incomes and education—men who likely can also afford more vacations in the sun—and who also have the means to buy erectile dysfunction medications, which are very expensive.”

Viagra Skin Cancer Lawsuits

With news about a potential link between Viagra and melanoma come concerns that men who take Viagra are at an increased risk of skin cancer.  So far, very few Viagra skin cancer lawsuits have been filed. Whether more Viagra lawsuits are filed alleging patients developed melanoma after taking Viagra remains to be seen and until more research is done, the exact nature of the link between Viagra and melanoma is not clear.