While all drugs to a certain extent carry some health risks that detract from the possible medical benefits of using the medication, some drugs like Viagra (sildenafil) may have some serious side effects that may make consumers think twice before purchasing a dose of the famous little blue pill. Over the last four years, researchers have been concerned with the alleged correlation between Viagra use and the development of melanoma skin cancer.

The Viagra skin cancer risks were first questioned in 2011 when the January edition of the medical journal Cancer Cell was published. In the journal’s article titled “Hard Times for Oncogenic BRAF-Expressing Melanoma Cells,” the lead researchers suggested that the progression of malignant cutaneous melanoma (that is, melanoma skin cancer) occurred in about 20 percent of the patients studied and allegedly worsened to a more aggressive form of cancer. The researchers then looked into the possibility of it being sildenafil melanoma, questioning whether or not the use of Viagra increased the risk of melanoma skin cancer.

The researchers for this 2011 Viagra skin cancer study did caution that the results were not conclusive, and there were some cases in which the use of Viagra did not co-occur with the metastasizing and upstaging of melanoma skin cancer. However, since this research was published, another Viagra skin cancer study has since done more in-depth research, further supporting the link between Viagra and melanoma skin cancer.

Study Suggests Increased Risk of Viagra Skin Cancer

In 2014, a second Viagra study, this one sponsored and performed by the Harvard School for Public Health, suggested that Viagra may increase a man’s risk of skin cancer by a significant amount. According to the researchers’ article, which was published last year in a spring edition of JAMA, it was suggested that men using sildenafil drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction were up to 84 percent more likely to develop skin cancer when compared to their non-Viagra taking counterparts.

This Viagra research was based on data curated by Harvard School for Public Health over the course of a decade. The Viagra skin cancer research study followed the lives of 26,000 male research participants, some of whom used Viagra regularly. The Harvard study reported that 3,500 of the 26,000 men developed skin cancer allegedly caused by their use of Viagra. Of these 3,500 Viagra skin cancer consumers, 142 specifically developed melanoma skin cancer, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

As previously stated, the Viagra skin cancer study suggested that men who take on the regular basis Viagra are 84 percent more likely to develop skin cancer, but especially the more deadly melanoma skin cancer, than other men who did not use the Pfizer-manufactured erectile enhancing drug.

The Harvard-based researchers also reviewed participants’ genetics, UV damage, and other skin cancer risk factors, but found that these other cancer factors did not affect the findings of the Viagra melanoma study. In light of this Viagra study, hundreds of men may file Viagra skin cancer lawsuits or join Viagra skin cancer class action lawsuits in the near future.