(http://www.MacularDegenerations.com) World No Tobacco Day, which took place on May 31, provided an ideal opportunity to highlight the fact that smoking injures the eyes, according to The National recently.
While many understand that smoking can lead to various types of cancers and numerous kinds of lung diseases, some are not as well versed as they could or should be about the negative impact smoking can have on vision.
According to the article, smoking is linked to a couple of primary causes of vision impairment – those being age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts. Meanwhile, researchers are of the opinion that smoking leads to or facilitates numerous other eye heath issues in smokers of all ages.
According to the article, there is now plenty of evidence to suggest that people who either smoke or who frequently encounter second-hand smoke are more likely to come down with various eye ailments. Specifically, the article indicated that there is a lot of speculation concerning the possible link between smoking and eye-related ailments including strabismus, thyroid eye condition and eye inflammations.
The article noted that tobacco smoke has thousands of different components such as cancer-causing agents known as carcinogens, inflammatory substances and irritants. Moreover, the article noted that the British Medical Journal has mentioned research that notes that smoking ups the odds of getting AMD and that smokers are much more likely than their non-smoking counterparts to suffer vision loss as senior citizens. According to the report, AMD is the primary cause of adult vision loss in the United Kingdom
The article cited Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) as saying that, because sight is the sense that people most fear losing, more awareness about the link between smoking and eye disease is needed. According to the article, the RNIB wants cigarette companies to put eye health warnings on packets so that smokers start to get the message.
According to the article, there is no doubt whatsoever that smoking causes, rather than merely contributes to, AMD. Furthermore, smokers’ risks of coming down with AMD rises in relation to how much they light up.
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