Smoking Can Ruin Your Eyes, Make You Completely Blind
New Delhi: It is a common belief that smoking causes heart disease and lung cancer, leading to many fatal situations. However, one aspect of smoking also entails making you lose your vision. According to health experts, smoking increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, and Dry Eye Syndrome. According to the World Health Organisation, smokers develop age-related macular degeneration1 up to 5.5 years earlier than non-smokers. This blurs a persons central vision making it difficult for them to do everyday tasks like reading or driving. Studies also say people who live with tobacco users are twice as likely to develop age-related macular degeneration from second-hand smoke. How smoking affects eyesight and vision? According to doctors, when you smoke cigarettes, all the important parts of the eyes that help maintain clear eyesight and vision start making your vision cloudy reducing your field of vision, or even causing you to lose your eyesight completely. Cataracts According to the National Eye Institute2, smoking even 2-3 cigarettes can cause cataracts. A cataract is the clouding of the eyes lens, which prevents light from passing through the retina. Cataract, the doctors say is a slow-progressing disease over the years and slowly damages the eye nerves. Cataract causes blurry vision and makes colors look dull, faded, or yellowish. Macular degeneration Smoking also increases the chances of developing Age-related Macular Degeneration or AMD3, up to four times more than people who do not smoke. According to experts, AMD affects your macula, the most sensitive part of the retina and the part of the eye that supplies sharp vision. And when you smoke, the disease sets in, gradually destroying the macula and making it difficult to see or do things in front of you like reading, driving, or performing daily chores. Doctors say smoke reduces the effectiveness of antioxidants and depletes the levels of lutein in the macula. Cigarette smoke also reduces the amount of oxygen reaching the choroid, a network of tiny blood vessels that supply the retina. Graves Ophthalmopathy or Thyroid Eye Disease Research says tobacco smoking has a variety of effects on thyroid function and may cause Graves' disease or Thyroid Eye Disease. Orbital involvement may occur in as high as threefolds greater in smokers and they may have more severe and prolonged ophthalmopathy. According to the FDA4, smoking induces hypoxia and elaborate inflammatory cytokines in orbit. Diabetic retinopathySmokers also have the risk of getting diabetic retinopathy a condition in which blood vessels in the eye are damaged. It causes blurry or distorted vision and possibly blindness. Symptoms of Eye Diseases Related to Smoking Some symptoms of smoking cigarettes, causing eye diseases are: Cloudy or blurry vision Not able to properly see coloursSensitivity to light Trouble seeing at night Double vision Having a hard time recognizing facesDisclaimer: Tips and suggestions mentioned in the article are for general information purposes only and should not be construed as professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor or a dietician before starting any fitness programme or making any changes to your diet.
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 at 1:55 am