Eyes and Alcohol: The Effects of Drinking

alcohol blurry vision

People may also consider quitting smoking and reducing alcohol consumption to reduce the risk of negative effects on the eyes and other aspects of health. Long-term excessive drinking can lead to potential health issues, including problems with vision. Excessive alcohol consumption can negatively affect the eyes, leading to rapid eye movement, double vision, and potential blindness. If you only have a glass or two a night you probably don’t have to worry about your vision becoming permanently lost due to alcohol. But if you exceed the recommended guidelines of alcohol consumption and are often binge drinking, you could be putting your vision and eyesight in serious danger.

How alcohol causes dry eye

alcohol blurry vision

Toxic amblyopia was very common before World War II due to excessive drinking and tobacco use. Now the disease has become rarer and is often only seen in people suffering from alcoholism. Heavy drinkers who smoke and have poor dietary lifestyles are also likely to develop alcoholic amblyopia, a rare case of bilateral vision loss. Consuming alcohol may increase dehydration, promote inflammation, and disrupt vitamin transport — all factors that can negatively affect tear quality and quantity. Drinking alcohol when you’re already experiencing dry eye for other reasons can add the effects of alcohol to your existing symptoms. If you regularly consume alcohol and dry eyes have become an issue, it may have to do with alcohol’s inflammatory and dehydrating properties.

How alcohol affects your eyes

Here are some tips in to minimize your alcohol consumption and help prevent eyesight problems. You don’t have to get regularly drunk to start to feel the effects of alcohol on your eyes. According to many health care and eye care professionals, men who drink 3 alcoholic beverages a day and women who drink 2 are already at risk for long-term effects.

How to Help Alcoholic Eyes

alcohol blurry vision

However, simply reducing alcohol intake may not be enough to prevent geographic atrophy. When you drink alcohol, your vision may change in various ways during and shortly after drinking. For example, researchers found that people who have been drinking are likely to rate images as more attractive, widely known as the “beer goggles” effect. Alcohol is a diuretic, which increases urine production and, consequently, can lead to dehydration if the lost fluid is not replaced.

The Short and Long-Term Effects of Alcohol on the Eyes

It’s no secret that excessive alcohol consumption can lead to a number of health risks, including liver damage, anemia, cardiovascular disease, and depression. Not many would think that too much alcohol could cause permanent vision damage. Drinking can cause short- and long-term challenges with eye health and vision, including a condition known as dry eye disease (DED). Also referred to as tobacco-alcohol amblyopia, people who drink or smoke in excess can develop optic neuropathy, though it is rare. Studies have shown that vision loss can be a result of a nutritional deficiency, and some professionals believe that the condition develops because of the toxic effects of alcohol and tobacco.

Heavy drinking also significantly increases your risk of heart and liver problems. Though these aren’t eye diseases, the first signs of these conditions are often seen in the eyes as part of a comprehensive eye exam. Signs of heart disease include optic neuropathy, atrophy, bleeding in the retina from vascular occlusions, and even hypertensive retinopathy. Liver issues can be detected by the whites of your eyes taking on a yellowish hue, which indicates problems with the liver. A large study investigating the effect of alcohol on dry eye disease found that women have a significantly higher risk of experiencing dry eye symptoms after alcohol use as compared with men.

Preventing alcohol-related eyesight problems

Long-term abuse of alcohol can also lead to toxic amblyopia or vision loss. Both short-term and long-term use of alcohol affects the optic nerve and the relationship between the brain and the eye. Swelling of the blood vessels in the eye or the look of red bloodshot eyes is a common feature of those who have been lifetime drinkers. Another problem that excessive drinking leads to is migraine headaches, as the eye becomes sensitive to light; the result is pain. Alcohol can have many detrimental effects on the body as a whole – even apart from contributing to vision loss. Cutting back on your alcohol intake is a good way to start being healthier and protect your eyesight.

  • Optic nerve damage brought on by alcohol will sometimes lead to a condition called toxic amblyopia.
  • Our rehab centers offer a variety of methods to ensure the most significant opportunity for a well-rounded healing experience.

In this review, the concept of heavy drinking will be clarified through both quantitative and qualitative descriptions of daily alcohol consumption based on moderate or heavy alcohol abuse. In addition to the short-term and temporary effects of alcohol, consuming heavy amounts of alcohol can lead blurry vision after drinking alcohol to irreversible eye problems over time. You might develop a painless loss of vision, decreased peripheral vision, or reduced color vision. Short-term effects may result from intoxication, which people often describe as “being drunk.” This occurs when alcohol affects the central nervous system.

How drinking can affect your eyes in the short and long term

alcohol blurry vision

In addition, it may have a toxic effect, which can lead to the development of conditions that impair vision. Several other health issues can also result from long-term heavy drinking. Long-term heavy drinking can cause interference between the brain and the eyes. It may also damage or speed up the aging of various structures inside the eye, such as the lens, retina, and optic nerve.


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