Tobacco: How does cigarette smoke damage your eyes?
5 May 2020
Par: chef-projet@dnf.asso.fr
Dernière mise à jour: 5 May 2020
Temps de lecture: 2 minutes
Most smokers are unaware that their smoking is a preventable cause of blindness. Yet, a 2019 British study conducted by the Association of Optometrists (AOP)[1] alert on the dangers of tobacco for vision and the population's lack of knowledge on this subject.
Smoking is thought to significantly impair vision and significantly increase the risk of blindness and age-related macular degeneration. The results of this study show that smokers are twice as likely to lose their sight as non-smokers and three times more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration, commonly known as AMD. As its name suggests, this disease results from the deterioration of the macula, a small area of the retina located at the back of the eye, near the optic nerve. Macular degeneration causes a progressive and sometimes significant loss of central vision, which becomes increasingly blurred.
Additionally, people who smoke are said to be 16 times more likely than non-smokers to experience sudden vision loss caused by optic neuropathy, where blood flow to the eye becomes blocked.
Additionally, cigarette smoke contains nearly 7,000 toxic chemicals that can irritate and injure the eyes. Heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and copper can accumulate in the lens (the transparent part behind the pupil that focuses light rays) and cause cataracts, where the lens becomes cloudy.
The AOP had launched a national campaign “Stub it out”[2] in the United Kingdom in July 2019 to raise awareness among the British population of the harmful effects of smoking on visual acuity.
Quitting smoking is one of the best ways to preserve your vision.
[2] https://www.sante-sur-le-net.com/tabac-risque-perdre-vue/
