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Risk factors

While anyone can get a retinal vein occlusion, it tends to happen to people who are over 50 years old.

People with certain medical conditions have an increased risk of RVO. These conditions include:

  • High blood pressure
  • Diabetes
  • Glaucoma
  • Hardening of the arteries
Other factors that may contribute to RVO include:

  • Smoking
  • Obesity
  • Oral contraceptives


However, you should talk to your doctor about addressing your risk factors to reduce the chances of RVO occurring again in either eye.

Who is LUCENTIS for?

LUCENTIS® (ranibizumab injection) is a prescription medicine for the treatment of patients with macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO).

What important safety information should I know about LUCENTIS?

LUCENTIS is a prescription medication given by injection into the eye, and it has side effects. Some LUCENTIS patients have had detached retinas and serious infections inside the eye. You should not use LUCENTIS if you have an infection in or around the eye or are allergic to LUCENTIS or any of its ingredients.

Uncommonly, LUCENTIS patients have had serious, sometimes fatal, problems related to blood clots, such as heart attacks or strokes.

Some patients have had increased eye pressure within 1 hour of an injection.

Serious side effects include inflammation inside the eye and, rarely, problems related to the injection procedure, such as cataracts. These side effects can make your vision worse.

The most common eye-related side effects are increased redness in the white of the eye, eye pain, small specks in vision, and the feeling that something is in the eye. The most common non–eye-related side effects are nose and throat infections, headache, and lung/airway infections.

If your eye becomes red, sensitive to light, or painful, or if you have a change in vision, call or visit your eye doctor right away.

For additional safety information, please talk to your doctor and see the LUCENTIS full prescribing information.