In Mexico, more than 14 million people smoke actively, and 25% of them are between 18 and 24 years old. This represents a significant health risk from an early age, not only for lungs and heart, but also for an organ that often goes unnoticed: eyes.
Within the framework of World No Tobacco Day, APEC Hospital de la Ciera calls on the population to reflect on the effects of smoking on visual health, one of the least known consequences, but not less serious.
“The tobacco smoke contains thousands of toxic substances that enter the bloodstream and are distributed throughout the body, including the eyes, where they can cause serious and often irreversible damage,” says Dr. Daniela Barba Castelo, a doctor attached to the previous segment.
Among the most harmful effects of tobacco on vision, are the increase in cortisol, known as the “stress hormone”, and the reduction of ocular blood flow, which directly affects structures such as retina and optical nerve, favoring inflammation and degeneration of eye tissues.
Ocular diseases that are most aggravated with smoking:
Cataract: smoking increases by up to 40% the risk of developing cataracts, a condition that clouds the lens of the eye and usually requires surgery at earlier ages in those who smoke.
Macular egeneration associated with age (DMAE): The risk of suffering from this disease, which affects the central vision, can be up to 5 times greater in smokers, which increases the chances of severe loss of vision.
Dry eye syndrome: tobacco reduces the production and quality of the tear, generating eye irritation, ardor, blurred vision and foreign body sensation.
Glaucoma and optical neuropathies: the decrease in blood flow can cause optical nerve damage and increase the risk of these conditions, which can advance silently until permanent visual loss causes.
In addition, smoking aggravates pre -existing ocular diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy in people with diabetes, or thyroid orbitopathy in those who live with thyroid disorders.
Although many of these visual damages develop progressively, there are signs that warn early complications, such as blurred vision, greater light sensitivity, difficulty seeing at night, persistent ocular dryness, changes in the perception of color or the appearance of dark spots in the central vision.
Discomforts such as eye pain or pressure sensation behind the eye may also occur. Given any of these symptoms, it is essential to go to the ophthalmologist for integral assessment.
“The effects of tobacco in the view do not occur immediately, but over time they can be devastating. Even if there is already ocular damage, quitting smoking is always beneficial: the sooner it is abandoned, the less the accumulated deterioration will be,” says the specialist.
Leaving tobacco is a complex process that must be accompanied by an integral medical team. From the ophthalmologist, to detect and treat possible visual damage, to the psychologist, the nutritionist or the pneumologist, they all fulfill a key role in achieving effective cessation and recovering health.
Vision is one of the most valued senses, but also one of the least attended, in APEC, Hospital de la Ceguera, we know that prevention is the most powerful tool to avoid eye diseases that can derive in loss of vision, especially those associated with smoking.
Therefore, we invite the population to take an active role in monitoring their ocular health, periodically attending reviews with the ophthalmology specialist and adopting healthy lifestyle habits to have tools that contribute to preserve optimal visual health.
