Viagra has been linked to nearly a doubling of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, in men who used the erectile dysfunction medication, according to a recent study.

If you or a loved one suffered melanoma after using Viagra, you should contact a Viagra attorney for a free and confidential review of a potential Viagra lawsuit.

Kline & Specter, P.C., with more than 30 lawyers, several of whom are also highly skilled medical doctors, has the experience and expertise to litigate pharmaceutical injury cases. The firm was a key player in the $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement and has won large settlements in lawsuits involving medications.

Nearly 10,000 people die each year of melanomoa, with some 76,000 new cases diagnosed annually. Two-thirds of those who die are men.

The Viagra study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine, found that men who took Viagra were 84 percent more likely to develop melanoma. The study, whose subjects included 26,000 men with an average age of 65, showed an increase in melanoma among Viagra users even when the findings were adjusted to take into account other variables, such as family history of skin cancer and exposure to UV rays.

One author of the study, Dr. Abrar Qureshi, chairman of the dermatology department at Brown University’s medical school, was quoted as saying that Viagra may increase the risk of melanoma because it affects the same genetic pathway that allows skin cancer to become more invasive.