Put Down the Cigarette: What Smoking Is Doing to Your Eye Health

You’ve seen the anti-smoking commercials where smokers are hooked up to a breathing machine or unable to talk because of excess smoking. As the cause of so many cancers— including lung and oral cancers— smoking can wreak havoc on virtually every part of your body. In fact, did you know that smoking can impact your vision health? From cataracts to dry eye, this article will discuss a few of the eye diseases that smoking causes. Read on to learn more.

Cataracts
Cataracts is an eye disease that causes your lens to become foggy resulting in the inability to see things clearly. Caused primarily by old age, cataracts are also linked to smoking. By reducing the oxidation that your eyes get, smoking can cause cataracts to form quickly and even at a younger age in some instances.

Macular Degeneration
As another eye disease that can result in blindness, macular degeneration and smoking go hand in hand. By interfering with the blood flow to the retina, smoking can cause macular degeneration which results in the inability to see fine details.

Dry Eye
Whether you yourself are an avid smoker or if you hang around a lot of smokers, dry eye is one of the most common eye conditions that you can suffer from. By causing your eyes to produce less tears, dry eye is a condition that is both uncomfortable and a nuisance.

It’s a scientific fact that smoking cigarettes or being around secondhand smoke can cause a variety of different health issues, including those related to your vision. If you are a smoker one of the best things that you can do for your health is to quit as soon as possible. Although the road to quitting is hard, it is definitely not impossible and your vision will thank you later on down the line. To learn more about how smoking can influence your eye health, contact Millennium Park Eye Center today!