Getting Visudyne to a person
January 28, 2025 11:29 AM   Subscribe

Someone in my family circle in Turkey needs Visudyne. How do I get it to him.

So he needs Visudyne. If you understand this question, I'm guessing you know more than me, but it's an eye medication that he needs in order to stop the further degeneration of an eye problem that is serious. He needs one dose (or at least, that will resolve enough of the issue that finding ways to get him that one dose even if we can't get him further doses, is worth it, to my laywoman's understanding). Apparently it is not available in Turkey, unless it's on the black market and then you don't know if it's legitimate. He says there is some process by which he can get it in six months but he needs it sooner.

He has a prescription. He has qualified doctors willing to administer it. What he needs is the medicine. Apparently, it's not sold here even with a prescription to patients (?), because it needs to be administered in the doctor's office.

I offered to set up appointments for him to see a doctor here to get it (I'm in the US), but he won't be able to get a visa in time to come here (or to Europe) to receive it.

If we can get our hands on this, then in theory we can hand-carry it over or have someone else do so.

Thoughts on how to solve this riddle? Help please!!!
posted by cacao to Health & Fitness (2 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Is it any easier to get in Greece, which is just over the border? Or Bulgaria, or any of the neighboring countries?

Just get treated over the border, so one can't be accused of smuggling contraband drugs.
posted by kschang at 1:20 PM on January 28 [1 favorite]


The other name for this drug is Verteporfin, and unfortunately it is globally difficult to acquire due to manufacturing problems. Due to this, there have been some experiments with alternative treatments -- if your person has central serous chorioretinopathy they should contact an opthalmologist at a university to see if they have alternative options. Basically, you want a doc that reads Ophthalmologica on a regular basis, not just some random strip mall eye doc.

If you try for the black market it's almost guaranteed to be a dangerous fake, especially in Turkey, because it's also used off-label for hair loss and so they'll be giving you something like weird compounded minoxidil or the like.
posted by aramaic at 1:49 PM on January 28 [1 favorite]


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