The links between smoking and sight loss is as strong as the link between smoking and lung cancer.
Here are just some of the ways smoking impairs your vision:
- Tobacco smoke causes biological changes in your eyes that can lead to vision loss
- Cigarettes contain toxins that enter your eyes & increase your risk of sight loss by up to 4 times
- Tobacco chemicals damage blood vessels inside your eyes
- Tobacco chemicals interfere with the production of your tears
- Smoking causes oxidative stress and damages your retina
- Tobacco reduces the amount of oxygen reaching your macula
- Smoking is a key risk factor for age-related macula degeneration (AMD) – the UK’s leading cause of blindness. As many as 1 in 5 cases of AMD are directly caused by tobacco consumption
- Smoking is a major risk factor in the development of cataracts. The risk of nuclear cataracts is 3 times greater in smokers
- Smoking if a significant risk factor for developing diabetic retinopathy
- Smoking increases your risk of dry eye syndrome
- Smoking is associated with the onset of thyroid eye disease
- Smokers have an increased risk of colour vision deficiency
- Smokers are twice as likely to suffer Uveitis
- Smoking increases the risk of contact lens wearers suffering corneal ulcers
- Smoking in pregnancy increases the risk of your child developing a squint
- Smoking around loved ones increases their risk of suffering sight loss
For help to quit, visit http://www.nhs.uk/better-health