Man claims he went blind after taking Ozempic, shares warning for other users

A Maryland man claims that a popular weight-loss drug caused his total vision loss, leaving him legally blind.

Todd Engel, 63, was first prescribed Ozempic in 2023 to help manage his diabetes. The GLP-1 medication, which is approved to treat type 2 diabetes, is also commonly prescribed off-label for weight loss.

Approximately four months after starting the medication, Engel was diagnosed with nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).

The condition, in which reduced damages the optic nerve, can cause sudden and permanent vision loss.

"I first noticed it on New Year's Eve, 2024. I had just gotten out of the shower, was getting ready to go to work. And I said to Shelley, I can't see in my right eye. It's totally black. It's totally dark in my right eye," Engel told Fox News Digital during an on-camera interview.

"I was horrified. I was very, very upset that I couldn't see."

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Engel was referred for further testing, including at Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. He was told he had suffered an "eye stroke," another term used for NAION.

"The blood work came back in the normal range for me. My was fine. They said, You can go back to work," he said.

Engel continued taking Ozempic because, according to the family's account, neither he nor his doctors knew of a possible association between semaglutide and NAION.

About 10 months later, vision loss suddenly occurred in his left eye.

"At that point in time, losing sight in both eyes, there was a tremendous amount of concern," he said.

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Doctors told Engel there was no medication or surgical procedure that could restore his vision.

Shelley Engel said that did not identify another common factor beyond Ozempic. Her husband immediately stopped taking the drug after losing vision in his second eye.

"I didn't go blind — I had my vision taken from me, which was catastrophic to me and to my family," he said.

Engel has filed a lawsuit against Novo Nordisk, the Denmark-based manufacturer of Ozempic, alleging that the company failed to adequately warn patients and doctors about the potential risk of vision loss.

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He is among hundreds of patients currently pursuing legal action against makers of GLP-1 medications, including Ozempic and Wegovy, over claims that the drugs caused NAION.

The lawsuits allege that manufacturers failed to provide sufficient warnings about the potential risks, although a causal relationship between the medications and the condition has not been definitively established.

At the time of his vision loss, Engel was working for Howard County Highways as a heavy equipment operator and truck driver.

He had worked in the field for about 40 years and held a commercial driver's license for nearly as long