The only proven way to prevent alcoholic eyes and all of the effects of alcoholism is to seek out addiction treatment as soon as possible. Now that you know what the effects of over-indulgence of alcohol and long-term excessive drinking, you will be aware of how it can affect the eye and eyesight. This is in addition to the problems arising with other organs and the health of the whole body from excessive or long-term alcohol abuse.
- Alcohol and eyesight are connected, and even light alcohol consumption can impair the eyes and affect vision.
- Alcohol is a diuretic that contributes to dehydration, light sensitivity, increased urine production, and reduced tear production.
- If you’re concerned about the health of your eyes, you should seek medical advice from your GP, optometrist or ophthalmologist.
- However, sudden blurred vision in one eye can be a warning sign for a medical emergency.
- Understanding these effects can help you make better choices regarding alcohol use and take steps to protect your eye health.
Examples of eye symptoms to check with a doctor
- The eyes work harder to compensate for their reduced efficiency, leading to strain.
- One area where alcohol exerts a significant impact is on your vision.
- Amaurosis fugax vision loss usually affects one eye and resolves within minutes to an hour.
- Alcohol impacts the structural proteins of the lens, accelerating the clouding process.
- Tackling alcohol abuse isn’t just about stopping the drinking; it’s about understanding why the drinking started in the first place.
Drinking alcohol affects the body and brain, and heavy drinking can have long term effects on your health, including your eyesight. You can keep the health risks low blurry vision hangover from drinking alcohol by following NHS guidance about alcohol intake. Advice includes drinking no more than 14 units a week regularly, having a few drink-free days each week, and spreading your intake over several days.
Treatment Options for Alcoholic Eyes
But you shouldn’t ignore unexplained, persistent blurry vision, or vision problems accompanied by other symptoms. You don’t need to see a doctor when blurriness goes away after blinking or rubbing your eyes, or when it’s sporadic with a clear cause. Migraines are severe, pounding headaches that usually involve other symptoms. Some people experience a period of visual disturbances before a migraine attack. Blurry vision following an eye or head injury can indicate a medical emergency.
Possible long-term effects on eyes
There is no treatment available for the disease, only methods of coping with your new 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. Our eyes are meant to naturally switch between dilating to let in more light and constricting to filter out light in order to help us see in different environments.
Increased Sensitivity to Light
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. The best thing you can do to alleviate eye-related symptoms caused by alcohol consumption is to cut back on drinking or eliminate alcohol altogether. Light to moderate alcohol consumption should not have a lasting impact on your vision. However, in the short-term, even one drink can have negative effects on the eyes (e.g., dry eyes). Learning about the short- and long-term effects of alcoholic eyes—and addiction in general—can leave a lot of people feeling hopeless.
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There are many reasons to stop drinking, and damage to vision—whether short- or long-term—is one of them. While the short-term damage to the eyes from drinking alcohol may be irritating, most of these conditions will clear up if alcohol consumption is stopped or reduced. On the other hand, alcoholic eye damage resulting from chronic alcohol abuse may be long-lasting or permanent. One of the main reasons for damage to the eyes from alcohol abuse is thought to be vitamin deficiency from long-term alcohol abuse. Additionally, alcoholism also disrupts neurological connections to the eye and disturbs optical nerve health.
