People sometimes forget that just because alcohol is legal, it does not make it safe. When people do think of the organs impacted by excessive alcohol consumption, they typically think of the liver, but the eyes are also quite vulnerable, especially when the liver is damaged. At Safe Harbor Recovery Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, we think it is important for people to know how dangerous alcohol is for eye health.
Early, Short-Term Changes
Even when a person only drinks heavily on occasion, some of the first indicators that they have had too much to drink are related to their eyes:
- Redness
- Inability to process visual info
- Involuntary eye movement
- Delayed pupil response time
- Difficulty estimating distances, which not only increases the risk of a traffic accident for people who drive impaired, but can also increase the likelihood of falls, burns, and other accidental injuries.
- Dry, scratchy eyes are a short-term issue; this is mostly an annoyance. Long-term, however, the tear glands can stop working, which can lead to visual impairment
These symptoms typically go away once the person has had a chance to get sober, but if a person does not give their body a chance to recover, there can be long-term damage.
Long-Term Changes That Mean Trouble
If a person drinks heavily for a prolonged period of time, the damage to their eyes can become difficult or even impossible to heal, such as:
- Nutritional deficiencies. When a person’s body does not get enough of certain vitamins and minerals, this can lead to organ damage, which can impact vision and eye health. One example of how this could happen is that alcohol damages the pancreas, which can lead to diabetes, and this can lead to eye damage, even leading to permanent blindness. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in people between the ages of 20 and 74.
- Cataracts. There have been numerous studies that have shown that people who drink a lot of alcohol develop cataracts at a higher rate than people who don’t drink or don’t drink as much. Cataracts are the clouding of a person’s normally clear eye lens. This happens when proteins in the lens break down and clump together. They then scatter and block the person’s vision, and can make the person sensitive to bright lights and sunlight. They may also have fading of colors or perceive things as more yellow.
- Macular degeneration or Optic neuropathy. Damage to the optic nerve, which causes the neural tissue to degenerate, can include lesions, trauma, or other issues.
- Night blindness. This could be the result of vitamin deficiencies, and eating a healthy diet and taking a supplement that contains Vitamin A and/or zinc may help. In addition, inability to see the full range of colors or blurred vision can also occur.
- Thinning or perforation of the cornea. These injuries can cause persistent eye pain and damaged vision.
- Yellowing of the eyes. This may occur as a result of liver damage and may not be possible to reverse.
- Blindness. If the optic nerve deteriorates, which often happens faster when a person drinks a lot of alcohol, the person can lose vision entirely, and this is generally not reversible.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Eye Health
When a baby is born to a mother who drinks during pregnancy, they may develop fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which can impact the child’s eyes through:
- Eye malformations
- Drooping upper lid
- Unusually small eyes
- Decreased vision
If you have noticed that your eyes have gotten worse, it is important to make an appointment with an eye doctor right away, and that you share if you have been drinking heavily or for a long time.
Indications That Your Drinking Habits Could Endanger Your Eye Health
When eye doctors are screening a person for possible damage from alcohol use, they may ask questions such as:
- Have you ever wondered if you might need to cut down on your drinking?
- Do people criticize how much you drink?
- Do you ever drink early in the morning to get rid of a hangover or steady your nerves?
- Do you ever feel bad or guilty about how much or how often you drink?
If a patient indicates that two or more of the statements are true, then it is likely that the patient could be engaging in the sorts of drinking behaviors that are likely to have a negative impact on their eye health.
At Safe Harbor Recovery Center, we encourage our clients to engage in self-care that nurtures every part of their being, including their physical bodies, as physical health can have an impact on the ability of a person to stay in recovery from addiction.