HELLO DOCTOR, I AM TAKING REYATAZ,TRUVADA AND NORVIR, I AM DOING GREAT CD4 839 AND UNDETECTABLE SINCE I STARTED TREATMENT (8 MONTHS AGO) , MY DOCTOR IS CONSIDERING SWITCHING REYATAZ , I HAVE TO GO BACK ON THURSDAY 3/22 TO TALK WITH HIM ABOUT DIFFERENT OPTIONS, THE REASON WHY HE WANNA TO SWITCH IS BECAUSE MY EYES ARE VERY YELLOW AND HE IS AFRAID THAT I`LL STOP THE REYATAZ W/O TELLING HIM, I TOLD HIM THAT I WILL NOT DO THAT !!! BUT HE INSISTS ON CHANGING REYATAZ. MY QUESTION IS: WHAT IS THE BETTER OPTION OUT THERE TO REPLACE REYATAZ? DO I HAVE ANY RISK OF DEVELOPING RESISTANCE WITH THE CHANGE? PLEASE ADVISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

Hello and thanks for posting.

Yellowing of the eyes is a not rare, but usually not medically serious side effect of Reyataz. About 5% of people using this regimen experience this effect.

If serious enough to warrant a switch, the most conservative way to approach this is to switch to a different protease inhibitor. Current US treatment guidelines would endorse a change to Norvir+Prezista (darunavir). Darunavir is very well tolerated and isn't associated with yellowing of the eyes/skin and would retain the same degree of viral potency.

Hope that helps, BY