Asymmetric anterior segment changes induced by chlorpromazine.

A 54-year-old man ingested chlorpromazine, 800 mg/day, for ten years and showed conjunctival, corneal, and lenticular changes. Because of a congenital Marcus-Gunn jaw-wink phenomenon in the right eye with subsequent ptosis, he presented an opportunity to compare the anterior segment changes induced by this drug in an eye exposed to sunlight with an eye relatively protected. The changes in the anterior segment were much more marked in the exposed left eye--supporting the hypothesis that chlorpromazine-induced ocular toxicity is a result of drug interaction with sunlight on anterior segment proteins, causing them to denature, opacify, and accumulate in conjunctiva, cornea, and lens.