Smoking has long been known to cause heart disease and lung cancer; however, many people don’t realise that smoking can lead to vision loss. What serious eye conditions can develop and according to an expert, what are the best tips to quit?
Giles Edmonds, Specsavers clinical services director lists the four health conditions linked to smoking which include:
Cataracts
Age-related macular degeneration
Uveitis
Diabetic retinopathy.
“Studies have shown that smoking can double your chances of developing cataracts, triple chances of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), increase the risk of uveitis (inflammation of the middle layer of the eye) and double the risk of diabetes, which in turn could lead to diabetic retinopathy,” he added.
Cigarette smoke might exacerbate diabetic neuropathy partly through the mechanism of oxidative stress and has been confirmed an independent risk factor for diabetic neuropathy.
While traditional tobacco smokers remain the most at risk of developing AMD, research also indicates that vapour from e-cigarettes can cause irritation and lead to dry eye syndrome.
“When you lose more fluid than you take in, your body becomes dehydrated,” added Mr Edmonds.
“Our eyes can become dry and irritated and we can even start to get slightly blurred vision because there are not enough tears to lubricate the eye.”
Smoking can also damage your hearing, with smokers being as much as 70 percent more likely to suffer with hearing loss than non-smokers.
How to quit
LloydsPharmacy pharmacist Anshu Kaura offered his top tips to quitting which include:
- Remove temptations
- Learn more about Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT)
- Get support
- Stay active
- Keep busy.