for Veterans and the Public

If you and your doctor decide that you should begin taking medicines for your hepatitis C, the drugs are intended to do 3 things:

1. remove (or clear) all the hepatitis C virus from your body permanently
2. stop or slow down the damage to your liver
3. reduce the risk of advancing liver to cirrhosis

Complete and permanent clearing of the hepatitis C virus from the blood does not happen in all patients. If this does not happen, there are still some ways that treatment can help you.

The treatment can:

• slow down the scarring and damage to your liver
• lower the amount of hepatitis C virus in your blood
• improve your overall well-being and quality of life
• lower your alanine aminotransferase (ALT) liver enzyme level
• control the effect of hepatitis C in other organ systems, such as kidney and skin

Drug treatments are not right for everyone. Only you and your doctor can decide if a certain treatment is right for you.