Causes of visual impairment after drinking alcohol. The effect of alcohol on vision Loss of vision due to alcohol

On the eve of the New Year, we have prepared information about the effects of alcohol on vision.

The immediate effects of alcohol on the human body are well known. After taking 2-3 servings of alcohol, vision becomes less clear and clear, speech becomes slurred, and coordination of movements worsens.

The long-term effects of alcohol on the human body are even more serious. Regular consumption of large doses of alcohol is fraught with the development of failure of vital organs, such as the liver and heart. In addition, drinking alcoholic beverages has a negative impact on vision in both the short and long term.

Short term impact

Drinking alcohol helps slow down the interaction of brain neurotransmitters, as a result of which information processing processes become more difficult and the relationship between the brain and the human body is disrupted. This leads to poor coordination of the eye muscles, double vision and blurred vision.

Alcohol also impairs the reaction of the pupils, which means they cannot dilate and contract correctly in accordance with the level of light. The ability of the eye to distinguish certain colors and shades also decreases, which is especially important when driving a car and playing certain sports. According to research conducted at Western University in Canada, alcohol reduces the eye's ability to distinguish between light and dark by 30%.

Other short-term effects of drinking alcohol include light sensitivity due to migraines, inflammation and redness of the eyes due to dilation of blood vessels, and an eye twitch known as myokymia. Additionally, dry eyes are common, according to a study conducted at Hallim University Medical Center.

Long-term negative effect

Although one-time consumption of large amounts of alcohol has a negative effect on vision and eye health, these effects are short-term and disappear after the level of alcohol in the blood decreases. But the long-term consequences can be much more serious.

Many researchers associate the development of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with regular alcohol abuse. With cataracts, cloudy areas appear in the lens of the eye, which leads to decreased clarity of vision. AMD is damage to the retina that results in loss of central vision.

The effect of alcohol on the liver is well known, but few people know about its effect on vision. If the liver fails, the body has a harder time absorbing vitamins, which leads to a deficiency of certain vitamins. Vitamin B-1 deficiency can lead to weakened or paralyzed eye muscles; A lack of vitamin A can cause worsening twilight vision, thinning or damage to the cornea, dry eyes, and damage to the retina.

According to the British Journal of Ophthalmology, optic neuropathy is a serious threat and can cause complete painless loss of vision due to alcohol abuse. Complete and permanent loss of vision is also called tobacco-alcohol amblyopia or toxic amblyopia.

Chronic alcohol consumption also causes a range of visual problems, ranging from short-term ones, such as blurred vision or dry eyes, to long-term ones, such as cataracts and blindness. Limiting your intake of alcoholic beverages may have a beneficial effect on your eye health.

Welcome to our website, dear reader. So, you have been diagnosed with glaucoma. The doctor explained how many different restrictions you will now have in food, in physical activity, even in lighting and ambient temperature. Is it really necessary to give up the little joys of life in the form of drinking alcohol?

Or is alcohol still acceptable for glaucoma, at least in small quantities? And what can I do: cognac, wine, beer or vodka? Let's look at this issue together.

Normally, our eyes produce intraocular fluid, which, with the help of various structures, is drained into the systemic bloodstream. If for some reason a violation occurs and the outflow of moisture stops, an increase in intraocular pressure occurs. Therefore, all the doctor’s recommendations are aimed at not causing an increase in blood pressure. The goal of treatment is to remove obstructions and reduce IOP.

Alcohol, depending on the type of drink, contains different concentrations of ethanol in its composition. Ethanol, in turn, has the following effects on the body:

It can reach the systemic bloodstream within 10 minutes after consumption. That is, it does not need to be digested like food. The maximum concentration is reached after 50 minutes.
After about 2-3 hours, under the influence of alcohol, vasodilation occurs. We feel relaxed, euphoric, warm.
When alcohol is eliminated from the body, which can happen within 24 hours, it causes activation of the sympathetic system. At this moment, a sharp narrowing of blood vessels occurs.
Based on these mechanisms, recommendations are made on the effect of alcohol on ocular glaucoma.

The mechanism of action states that alcohol dilates blood vessels, and it is this principle that guides people who sometimes take alcohol. Indeed, it is able to relieve pain and other manifestations by reducing pressure.

But not everything is as smooth as we would like. A day later, its second effect appears: a sharp narrowing of blood vessels. This negatively affects the development of the disease and causes its progression.

Moreover, a sharp increase in pressure can provoke a new, even more severe attack, which is sometimes difficult to remove even with the help of medications.

So is it possible to drink alcohol if you have glaucoma?

Some more considerations when drinking alcohol

The first organs it affects are the brain and the entire nervous system, as well as the liver. The effect of alcohol is toxic:

With regular use, it aggravates the atrophy of the optic nerve, the retina, which is already suffering, under the influence of the disease.
Simultaneous consumption of alcohol and medications reduces their effectiveness. And you probably know that taking medications for glaucoma is an extremely necessary action. Otherwise, there is a risk of vision loss.
When consumed in large quantities, a person can lose orientation, fall, for example, with a head injury; the resulting injury can also negatively affect the underlying disease. Unfortunately, falls and injuries among alcohol drinkers are common.

So far, we see that the compatibility of alcohol and glaucoma is very doubtful.

Are there exceptions to drinking alcohol during glaucoma?

It should be taken into account that there are various nuances when drinking alcoholic beverages, these are:

individual characteristics of the body - heredity, tolerance to ethanol;
the effect of alcohol in glaucoma depends on the dose and percentage of strength;
A single dose or long-term poisoning of the body with alcohol has different effects.

Based on such points, of course, it can be assumed that a single consumption of, for example, beer or wine in small quantities will not greatly affect the patient’s condition.

Anyone who has abused alcohol at least once in their life knows from their own experience the connection between alcohol and vision. The notorious double vision or blurred picture, “sand” in the eyes and morning tearing pains in the eye sockets are common symptoms of a drinking person and few people seriously think about what the body is trying to warn us about with these signs.

Good vision is such a common occurrence for most people that they take it for granted and only realize it when it fails and life becomes not as cloudless as before.

It took millions of years to create such a complex organ of vision as the human eye, and only a few centuries were enough to create an environment inappropriate for its normal functioning.

These include: poor ecology, overload from electronic images, poor nutrition and, of course,...

Protect yourself

There are alcohol-containing products in nature, but not in such concentration and not as much as a “civilized” person can afford. Therefore, our body has not developed effective protection against alcohol, but simply breaks down, losing most functions, including vision.

In the wild there is reliable protection against alcoholism - drunk people are simply eaten and do not leave offspring. But humans have no natural enemies, and that’s probably why we decided to become our own enemies “so that life doesn’t seem like honey.”

Someone can say that they know many drinkers in excellent health and, conversely, sick abstainers. This does not speak about, but about the fact that the ancestors of some took care of themselves and their children, and left them a legacy of heroic health, which, even with drunkenness, cannot immediately be ruined; and for others, the limit was spent by previous generations to the bottom and now their descendants for several more generations must increase vital resources to restore the potential of their family.

A question of quantity and quality

It would not occur to anyone to talk about the dangers of a couple of glasses of good wine several times a year on major holidays.

We are talking about regular immoderate libations. Even the notorious daily 50 grams “for appetite” can cause serious complications, not to mention such “folk traditions” as “100 grams for courage” or “Friday is driver’s day.”

If we also take into account the not always good quality of the alcohol consumed, then the possibility of complete loss of vision after one good drinking session cannot be ruled out.

The effect of alcohol on vision

The vast majority of people who drink do not associate their visual impairment with this addiction, but in vain.

Apparently, they did not study anatomy well and forgot that the work of all systems of the body and the eyes, first of all, depends on the blood supply. And healthy blood flow is impossible through vessels narrowed by the influence of alcoholic drinks.

Excessive libations expose the drinker to the risk of developing numerous pathologies of the visual system:

Cataract;
Ametropia;
Astigmatism;
Cloudiness of the cornea;
Detachment and other retinal disorders.

This is just a short list of all possible vision problems that originate from alcohol addiction. You need to know that frequent consumption of alcoholic beverages inevitably leads to weakened vision or even its complete loss in particularly severe cases.

Changes accumulate imperceptibly over many years, but can develop rapidly from a single intake of low-quality alcohol. And, unfortunately, specialists are powerless in such cases - vision loss becomes irreversible.

The mechanism of the effect of alcohol on human vision

Let's turn again to anatomy and try to understand why the presence of alcohols in the body is so dangerous.

Alcohol, thanks to its superactive formula, has an incredible ability to penetrate all structures, breaking through the body’s most reliable defenses. Particularly irreparable damage occurs in the brain - the most closed system, but not for alcohol. Alcohol destroys all sophisticated defenses and damages the most important executive functions.

In the process of vision, as in all other processes of our body, an important role is played not only by the physiological health of the organ of perception itself, but also by the high-quality decoding of the signal in the corresponding part of the brain. The effects of alcohol are damaging to both the brain and the eye itself.

The vasoconstrictor effect of alcohol compounds, especially in high concentrations, leads to serious traumatic spasm of the retinal vessels and optic nerve. Hypoxia, due to the lack of normal blood supply, leads to depression or complete death of the tissues of the fundus and other structures of the eye.

The fact that such pathological changes have begun in the organs of vision may be indicated by symptoms such as:

Blurred picture;
Feeling of lack of lighting (darkness in the eyes);
Dryness, pain, discomfort in the eyes (feeling of sand under the eyelids);
The appearance of a “veil” or “midges” before the eyes.

Vasoconstriction sharply increases the pressure of the fundus, which, in turn, can lead to injuries to small vessels, micro-effusions over a large area of the retina of the fundus and, as a consequence, irreversible impairment of visual ability.

In addition, a person under the influence of alcohol does not care about safety and hygiene. Trying to get rid of unpleasant sensations, he without hesitation begins to rub his eyes with dirty fingers, bringing a whole bouquet of various pathogenic flora onto the sclera.

The inflammation, conjunctivitis and other complications that arise from this do not improve vision, not to mention the mechanical damage and injury that people with poor coordination and lack of ability to think critically are often exposed to.

"Funny" deviations

The clearest indicator of whether alcohol is affecting your vision is diplopia, or the double image effect, which is familiar to those who have gotten drunk to this point.

Firstly, this is a fairly convincing feeling that the clarity of the picture depends on the dose of alcohol taken, and secondly, if you have drunk to such a state, you can be sure that your body is experiencing stress, which is dangerous for all vital systems.

The huge number of jokes and jokes about diplopia would be significantly reduced if jokers knew the true nature of this phenomenon. Extreme intoxication of the optic nerves and occipital lobes of the brain, which are responsible for vision, leads to a slowdown and desynchronization of the movement of the eyeballs, due to which the image undergoes various “funny” distortions. But if in the case of distorting mirrors, this is called a “laughing room,” then speaking about a drunkard, we are already talking about a horror film, where he is his own director, director and main character.

Regular intoxication of the visual system leads to partial or complete atrophy.

Also, large doses of alcohol lead to pupil dilation, regardless of lighting intensity. This causes a decrease in color perception, a decrease in viewing angle, the so-called “tunnel vision,” and a slower reaction to changing images.

In addition to purely visual functions, the eyes are part of the vestibular system, which determines the correct location of a person in space. Therefore, a failure in visual perception can result in loss of balance, loss of coordination and nausea.

Real and imaginary benefits of alcohol

There is a common belief about the benefits of alcohol, since it supposedly dilates blood vessels, which improves blood flow, reduces blood pressure, and the like.

Many alcoholic drinks actually act as vasodilators. However, the effect does not last long and is immediately replaced by a sharp, prolonged narrowing of blood vessels, and often to the formation of blood clots, the threat of thromboembolism in various organs with all the ensuing negative consequences.

But this does not mean that alcohol should be excluded from life as an absolute evil. Any substance becomes harmful due to non-compliance with the norms and rules of use. Alcohols have found application in many areas of human activity, especially in medicine, and half a glass of good wine no more than once a week will bring nothing but benefit and pleasure.

Drinking parents and children's vision

The formation of visual organs in the fetus developing in the uterus of a mother prone to alcoholism deserves special attention.

A frivolous attitude towards the complex processes of conception and growth of a new life leads to an avalanche of congenital pathologies, which recently began to be associated with alcohol consumption by young parents before conception and during pregnancy.

The list of all possible deviations could take several pages of typewritten text, but now we are interested in what happens to the visual apparatus of the fetus.

Or subsequent intrauterine intoxication of the fetus often leads to partial or complete loss of vision in the baby, as well as to congenital changes and pathologies of the visual organs themselves.

The formation of visual organs begins at 3-5 weeks of fetal development. During this period, eye vesicles appear, directly connected to the brain, within which complex structural formations that make up the eye are subsequently created. After another 3-4 weeks, the bodies of the eyeballs and lenses are formed.

Alcohol, easily bypassing the placental barrier, enters the circulatory system of the embryo and causes a number of possible disorders, leading to various incurable birth defects, sometimes incompatible with life.

Particularly severe pathologies are fraught with the presence of alcohol in the mother’s blood during the formation of the embryo’s neural tube. This combination can lead to such serious consequences that even the non-viability of the baby will seem like the most humane option.

Since the eyes are, in fact, a part of the brain brought outside, disturbances in the development of brain structures, first of all, provoke distortions in the tissues of the eyes and optic nerves, causing various stages of underdevelopment, complete absence of vision and numerous deformities in the area eyes in infants drinking mothers.

By raising a glass of intoxicating liquid, a pregnant woman is depriving her unborn child of health. In this case, it does not matter what or how much the expectant mother drinks (although what kind of mother is she?!) - even low-alcohol drinks can cause the disorder.

The father bears no less responsibility for the health of the unborn child, in whose blood at the time of conception a dangerous percentage of alcohol is determined.

The worst thing is that most of these congenital defects cannot be treated, and people born with serious visual impairments are doomed to lifelong disability and blindness.

Alcohol negatively affects all organs and systems of the human body. The vascular system of the visual organs is no exception. Excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages can cause both slight and short-term deterioration of vision and its complete loss.

Read in the article

Mechanism of action

After consumption, ethyl alcohol enters the bloodstream and constricts blood vessels, including those supplying the optic nerve and motor eye muscles. Oxygen ceases to reach the organs of vision in sufficient quantities. This leads to decreased visual acuity, blurred objects, double images (diplopia), darkening of the eyes, and even blindness.

Constant abuse of alcoholic beverages can provoke thrombosis. And here the type of alcohol-containing drink is completely unimportant - there is ethanol in everyone.

Causes of visual impairment

Alcohol and vision are very closely interconnected, and over the years this connection becomes stronger. For example, if in youth it is enough to rest a little to restore the body after drinking alcohol, then with age this time increases greatly.

When alcoholic beverages are consumed regularly, vision begins to deteriorate and becomes blurry and blurry. There are several reasons for this:

decrease in visual acuity as a result of deterioration of blood circulation in the organs of vision. First, ethyl alcohol dilates blood vessels, and then sharply narrows them. Because of this, oxygen poorly enters the retina of the eye, and the person begins to see poorly;
increased intravascular pressure. Due to the narrowing of the vessels in the retina, the pressure in them increases, which leads to the destruction of small capillaries. These processes are the cause of the “red eyes” that can often be observed in alcohol dependent people.
Also, the visual organs experience pain, pain and a feeling of sand inside, forcing a person to rub their eyes. Such actions contribute to infection in the eyes;
death of the optic nerve. Ethanol reduces the sensitivity of nerve endings, thereby causing the death of optic nerve fibers. A person can lose entire pieces of an image.

Symptoms of optic nerve atrophy:

painful sensations when moving the eyes;
reducing image visibility;
“tunnel” vision - one gets the impression of viewing the world around him through a pipe;
color vision impairment;
blurred image.

It is almost impossible to restore vision after optic nerve atrophy.

Due to constant intracranial pressure, the optic nerve atrophies, and the person gradually loses vision.
Vision restoration
To restore vision lost as a result of alcoholism, ophthalmologists first of all recommend completely forgetting about ethanol (even in medications).
Then the doctor prescribes drops to the patient to help get rid of discomfort in the eyes, and vitamins (ascorbic acid, carotene, tocopherol and others).
In addition to taking medications to improve vision, you should also review your diet as a whole. You should try to include:
black currants;
blueberries (useful in any form);
citrus;
rose hip;
ginger;
carrot;
parsley;
spinach.

Special eye exercises and palming (special procedures to improve blood flow) will also help improve vision.
Cold water has a tonic effect. Daily washing with it restores and strengthens the eye vessels.
Formation of vision in the womb
If a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy, she risks causing serious harm to the health of the fetus. Eyes begin to form from the 3rd week of pregnancy. Even a small dose of alcohol provokes disorders in the brain, disruptions in the formation of eye tissue and deterioration of visual function. The results of intrauterine intoxication can be congenital eye deformities, partial or complete loss of vision.
A drinking mother is more likely to give birth to a child with eye abnormalities or blindness.

What can drinking alcohol and human vision have in common? However, ophthalmologists are sounding the alarm: the effect of alcohol on human vision is so negative that the problem becomes a reason for discussion at medical conferences.

People who drink gradually decrease the acuity of their perception of objects, and this is not the worst consequence. After drinking low-quality strong drinks, a person can remain completely blind.

How alcohol affects vision: features of the effects of alcohol on the eyes

Even young people notice a deterioration in the perception of objects after heavy drinking. But a healthy body recovers quickly and the symptoms disappear on their own without any treatment. However, with each new drink, vision decreases more and more, and recovery takes more time.

Gradually, the visual organ wears out and ceases to clearly distinguish objects both near and far.

There are several reasons for visual impairment after drinking alcohol.

Impaired blood circulation in the eyes as a cause of visual impairment after alcohol

At the first stage after drinking ethyl alcohol, blood vessels dilate, a psychological uplift and pleasant excitement arise. Then comes the next stage - narrowing of the blood vessels, pressure increases in them and blood clots form.

After alcohol, it is mainly the smallest capillaries that suffer - arterioles and venules, in which blood stops flowing normally. Insufficient oxygen supply to the retinal cells causes vision loss.

After heavy drinking, darkening occurs in the eyes; a person needs brighter light to distinguish objects. The stronger the drink, the more pronounced the toxic effect of alcohol on the eyes.

Increased intravascular pressure: red eyes after alcohol

Euphoria after alcohol does not last long, but health is not restored so quickly.

Pressure increases in the vessels of the brain and eyes, which leads to minor hemorrhages. The capillaries of the retina and skin of the eyelids burst; many drunkards are familiar firsthand with the phenomenon of red eyes after alcohol.

In alcoholics, almost all blood vessels are damaged, they become tortuous and fragile. Several damaged capillaries form intraocular hemorrhage. In addition to redness of the whites, a person’s eyes hurt after drinking alcohol.

There is a feeling of pain, sand, or a foreign body. There is a natural desire to rub your eyes, but touching them with dirty hands leads to germs and inflammation. Infectious diseases caused by various bacteria and viruses may develop.

Optic nerve atrophy or why your eyes hurt after drinking alcohol

Alcohol breakdown products have a detrimental effect on nerve endings and reduce their sensitivity. The nutrition of the optic nerve is disrupted, which leads to damage and death of its fibers.

To better understand the mechanism of the disease, imagine the optic nerve as a telephone wire. One end of it is “connected” to the retina, and the other, the brain, receives signals. Like a wire, the optic nerve has many fibers and is surrounded on the outside by a protective sheath.

What happens with alcoholic atrophy? When fibers become damaged, entire sections of the image fall out. The picture formed in the brain becomes incomplete, and “blind spots” appear.

Symptoms of atrophy:

Pain when moving the eyeball;
Narrowing of the visibility zone;
Tunnel vision: a person sees objects as if through a pipe;
Impaired color perception;
Decreased visual acuity.

The sad situation is that these changes are practically impossible to correct. The disease gradually progresses, and if a person does not stop drinking, he may remain blind forever. In some people this process develops at high speed, in others it develops gradually.

Now you know how alcohol affects vision. A short period of fun after drinking a drink can result in retinal detachment and rupture. So is it worth the risk?

A fun feast often turns into a hangover the next morning. Moreover, pain in the eyes is sometimes added to the “splitting” head. This could be due to several reasons.

Causes

Alcohol in the blood causes it to thicken, resulting in clogged capillaries. The vessels in the eyes are the smallest and most sensitive, which is why pain may occur.
Jumps in intracranial or ocular pressure.
Negative effects of alcohol on nerve cells.
Low-quality vodka, made not from ethyl alcohol, but from methanol. Consuming a low-quality product can generally lead to loss of vision, so if you are not sure of the quality of the vodka you are using, and the pain is severe, rush to the ophthalmologist.

What to do

Need to thin the blood. To do this, take an Aspirin tablet.
Place lotions with tea leaves on your eyes.
Take some sorbent - activated carbon, Enterosgel.
Try to rest and not strain your eyes. Limit watching TV and sitting in front of a monitor until the discomfort is eliminated.

The effect of alcohol on the body, including vision, is still interesting to science today. Doctors strongly recommend that myopic people refrain from drinking. After all, it destroys the blood vessels of the eyes...

How does alcohol affect vision?

Alcohol destroys various human organs and organ systems. This also applies to the eyes. The destructive effect of alcohol on vision has been known for a long time. Ophthalmologists say that a huge number of people with severe eye diseases suffer from alcohol addiction. A painful craving for alcoholic beverages provokes the development of the following pathologies of the organ of vision:

problems with the cornea;
ametropia (impaired ability of the eye to refract light);
cataracts (clouding of the lens);
astigmatism;
retinal diseases.

However, this is not all eye pathologies that occur in alcoholics. In many cases, drunkenness leads to blindness or significant visual impairment. Sometimes the disease develops gradually, but often it occurs at lightning speed.

The destructive effects of alcohol on vision have been known for a long time.

Let's consider how alcohol affects the entire body and why the eyes are vulnerable. When ethyl alcohol enters the circulatory system and dissolves in the blood, the circulatory system “carries” it throughout the body. At the same time, small and large vessels narrow.

Moreover, this happens quickly and with high traumatism. The result is damage to the optic nerve and the muscle responsible for eye movements. Blood circulation is disrupted, including the process of blood supply to the visual system.

The result is oxygen starvation of these organs. As a result, the drinker begins to experience discomfort in the eye area. He develops a number of characteristic symptoms:

darkens in the eyes;
the clarity of vision decreases, the patient sees the world around him blurry;
it seems to the person that there is not enough light in the room;
With a hangover, your eyes hurt - they tingle and feel a stinging sensation;
“veil” and “midges” appear before the eyes.

As the vessels contract sharply, intraocular pressure increases. The sad result of what is happening is irreversible changes. Also, with increased pressure on the bottom of the eye, trauma to the eye capillaries occurs. Therefore, there are frequent cases of hemorrhages in the eyes, which are abundant and large in area.

A person who drinks an excessive amount of wine, vodka or beer does not take care of his own hygiene. When his eyes hurt after drinking alcohol, he begins to take various reflex measures: he rubs them and scratches them.

And all this is done with dirty hands. The result is infection of the visual organ, development of barley and inflammation of the conjunctiva. These diseases do not cause direct damage to vision, but we must not forget about their harm to the eyes and their functioning.

We looked at the effect of alcohol on the vision of a person who drinks. However, there are also innocent victims of drunkenness. We are talking about children carried by alcoholic mothers.

Alcoholism of the mother or even just periodic use of ethanol by her seriously harms the health of the fetus. The child may be born visually impaired or blind. The fact is that the eyes are formed at the beginning of gestation, so alcohol often leads to their deformities, improper formation and dysfunction.

The visual system in the human embryo is formed at an early stage - from the 3rd or 5th week of the mother's pregnancy. The process begins with the formation of the eye vesicles, which are connected to the brain. After another week or two, the lens of the eye and the eyeball appear.

If a pregnant woman drinks, the placenta does not protect the baby from alcohol. The poison penetrates his circulatory system. This affects the neural tube and the developing brain. The optic nerve, developing eye tissue and vision are also affected.

Therefore, mothers with alcohol dependence have an increased risk of having a blind baby. Moreover, visual impairments found in children of drinking mothers are often irreparable. Doctors also noted cases of underdevelopment of the eyes and all kinds of deformities of this organ.

A woman should know how alcohol affects the health of her unborn children. Then there is a chance that she will refuse the next dose of strong drink. And this even applies to beer, etc. "low alcohol" products. Wine, beer, cocktails and vodka are equally harmful during pregnancy and planning it.

Even just periodic consumption of ethanol by the mother seriously harms the health of the fetus.

Also, the formation of the body, including the eyes, of the unborn child can be harmed by the father’s drunkenness before conception. However, with systematic alcohol poisoning of the mother’s body, the child develops incurable eye diseases. Even recognized luminaries of medical science cannot cope with them. Such children become disabled for life.

How alcohol affects vision when it breaks down in the human body. The resulting substances have a detrimental effect on the nervous system, reducing its sensitivity. The optic nerve does not receive enough of the substances it needs, resulting in damage. Nerve fibers begin to die.

In some ways, the optic nerve is like a telephone wire, providing communication between the brain and the eye. It consists of a huge number of fibers and is protected by a specific shell. Why does it atrophy after drinking?

Fiber damage occurs. The result is the loss of individual sections of the image. An incomplete picture is formed in the brain. Areas called “blind spots” appear. A clinical picture characteristic of optic nerve atrophy develops:

eyes hurt when moving;
the visibility zone is narrowing;
vision becomes tunnel vision - objects are visible, as if the patient is looking through a specific tube;
visual acuity decreases.

Moreover, it is almost impossible to correct this situation. The disease gets worse over time. If the patient does not stop drinking, he will face complete blindness. Moreover, the rate of development of pathology is different in all patients. Some people become blind faster, while for others the process is slow.

If the patient does not stop drinking, he will face complete blindness

Alcohol destroys the visual system. Is one little fun worth the risk of total blindness in the future? The answer is clear: it’s not worth it under any circumstances!

Despite the accessibility of the Internet and the prevalence of information about the effects of drinking on the eyes, people continue to drink alcohol. What to do if a person has already drunk vodka or beer and suffers from a hangover with pain in the eyes? Here is a table of medications that help if your eyes are watery after drinking vodka:

Removes toxic substances from the body

It is also better for the patient to take a break from usual activities that involve eye strain. TV, computer and handheld gadgets are undesirable. They should not be used until the person's health improves.

A person with eye diseases should not drink alcohol. It destroys the visual system. Therefore, one of the conditions for good vision is absolute sobriety.

In recent years, statements from ophthalmologists have increasingly been heard that alcoholic beverages have a detrimental effect on human vision. There is a very close relationship between alcohol consumption and visual impairment, including various eye diseases, including blindness. Alcohol does not spare the drinker’s organs of vision.

How does alcohol affect vision in general and why does this happen?

Even at a young age, people note that after drinking heavily, the perception of surrounding objects is seriously impaired. In this case, the body of a healthy person recovers quite quickly, and the symptoms that arise disappear on their own without special treatment. However, each new portion of alcohol worsens vision more and more and requires more and more time and effort from the body to restore it. In fact, the organ of vision begins to wear out intensively with alcohol consumption. The surrounding objects and surroundings are becoming less and less clearly distinguishable, regardless of distance. Regular consumption of alcoholic beverages, even in small doses, causes irreversible changes for the worse in the human visual system.

Based on the results of many studies conducted around the world on the destructive effects of alcohol on human vision, it was possible to establish the following.

Once in the human body, alcohol very quickly penetrates the blood, spreading throughout almost the entire human vascular system, right down to the vessels supplying the optic nerve and motor eye muscles.
Alcohol causes a narrowing of these vessels, leading to a deterioration in the supply of oxygen to the human vision organs. Lack of oxygen, in turn, causes loss of visual acuity and provokes a dangerous sensation: a person experiences long-term or short-term darkening of the eyes.
Moreover, given the lack of oxygen, there is a constant tension of the muscles and blood vessels in the tissues of the face as a whole, which also leads to a negative effect on the organ of vision, including a decrease in visual acuity.

Along with redness of the whites due to rupture of capillaries after drinking alcohol, a person experiences pain in the eyes, a sensation of stinging, sand or a foreign object. There is a natural desire to rub the eyes; as a result of touching with dirty hands, germs and bacteria penetrate into the organs of vision, causing inflammation or even certain infectious diseases.

As a result of the toxic effect of alcohol, especially when consumed in large quantities, a double image occurs - alcoholic diplopia. As a result of poisoning by alcohol toxins, the eye muscles contract much worse and cease to interact consistently, and the axes of both organs of vision shift in different directions, resulting in double vision.

Ophthalmologists, who have been studying and monitoring changes in the visual status of chronically alcoholic patients for a long period of time, in most cases reveal alcohol-related intoxication of the optic nerve. Simply put, the nerve endings of the eye under the influence of alcohol atrophy and change to a certain extent, increasingly losing their key function over time.

Regular consumption of alcohol in any doses, even small ones, ultimately also provokes thrombosis: a disease that is very difficult to treat. The most obvious sign of ocular thrombosis caused by alcohol consumption is a gradual decrease in vision.

Which alcohol is more harmful?

To minimize the negative impact of alcohol on a person’s ability to see well and preserve visual acuity for as long as possible, you need to understand that the main cause of visual impairment in the case of drinking alcoholic beverages is ethyl alcohol. A substance with the formula C2H5OH is found in varying doses in absolutely all alcoholic beverages: from low-alcohol drinks, such as beer or cocktails, to the strongest.

There is an opinion that champagne is more harmful to the eyes and the entire body than other alcohol due to the presence of carbon dioxide. Moreover, according to the results of various studies, certain substances contained in certain types of alcohol can even benefit the visual organs. Thus, red wine (made from dark grape varieties) contains the antioxidant resveratrol, which, among other things, prevents the weakening of the eye muscles and the appearance of excess blood vessels. It protects against diseases such as macular degeneration of the retina, which leads to blindness. Beer containing B vitamins and microelements helps delay the onset of age-related myopia.

And yet we must understand that when drinking alcohol, ethyl alcohol ends up in the circulatory system and spreads to every cell of the body. Thus, any alcoholic beverages, regardless of the strength and naturalness of the composition, are a direct cause of serious circulatory problems in the eyes.

The damage caused to the body when consuming alcohol is still disproportionately higher than the benefits, so considering any type of alcoholic beverages as a way to improve vision is simply unreasonable.

Temporary and permanent manifestations of visual impairment

The effect of alcohol on the organs of vision can be not only temporary, that is, gradually passing, but also permanent. First of all, this concerns the nervous system of the eye. Alcohol breakdown products have a negative effect on the nerve endings of the organ of vision, causing a deterioration in their sensitivity.

For one-time use

With each exposure to alcohol, the human body undergoes terrible destructive changes, one of the most terrible of which is disruption of the normal functioning of the nerve centers. In a state of intoxication, a person perceives the surrounding reality completely differently, as some kind of illusion. Experts believe that as a result of exposure to ethyl alcohol, a person begins to see all the people and objects around him a little differently, losing his understanding of distances and scales. This is precisely what the proverb “a drunken man is knee-deep” indicates: while under the influence of alcohol, a person is unable to properly perceive reality. All sizes and distances seem to decrease, which in certain cases leads to hallucinations.

Also, under the influence of alcohol, a person experiences double vision. This condition is due to the fact that ethyl alcohol has a toxic effect on the center of the brain that provides visual function. During the period of intoxication, the contraction of the eye muscles slows down, and the axes of the visual center shift, as a result of which the person begins to receive a double image.

With regular use and binge drinking

Being in the blood, alcohol causes red blood cells to stick together, which, in turn, block small capillaries. At the points of blockage of these vessels, there is a strong increase in pressure, as a result of which the capillary becomes more fragile and simply ruptures. As a result of damage to several capillaries inside the eye, a slight hemorrhage occurs, which directly results in partial redness of the white. This is why, after a hangover, the whites of a person’s eyes turn pink-red. The regular effect of alcohol on the circulatory system, especially during long binges, leads to the fact that not only the proteins, but also the skin surrounding them become covered with a thin bloody mesh. In this case, a person experiences cutting and itching sensations in the eyes.

Ethyl alcohol contained in any alcohol causes an increase in intracranial pressure. In the absence of the required amount of oxygen, facial tissues are constantly tense. As a result, the eye muscles gradually atrophy, and visual acuity decreases. In this case, continued long-term and regular alcohol abuse can lead a person to complete loss of vision.

Ophthalmologists often observe that the visual field in patients who abuse alcohol is noticeably impaired. This is due to the fact that ethyl alcohol has a detrimental effect on the cells of the nervous system found in every organ of the human body. The defect in question can be cured today, but the patient must completely eliminate any alcohol from his diet.

Under the influence of alcohol, atrophy of the nerve endings in the fundus of the eye occurs, causing blanching of the main optic nerve head. The result of these deteriorations is a gradual decrease in the patient's vision.

Can you go blind from drinking alcohol?

Alcohol breakdown products have a detrimental effect on nerve endings, leading to a decrease in their sensitivity. The nutrition of the optic nerve is disrupted, as a result of which its fibers are damaged and begin to gradually die. To illustrate the mechanism of this process, the optic nerve can be imagined as a telephone cable, “connected” at one end to the retina of the eye, and the other to the brain, which receives signals via the wire. The optic nerve, like the cable, consists of fiber “wires”, and its external protection is provided by the outer sheath. As a result of alcoholic visual atrophy, damage to individual fibers occurs, as a result of which entire areas of the image entering the eye fall out of the overall picture transmitted to the brain. He receives an incomplete picture, which contains “blind spots”.

Visual atrophy under the influence of alcohol is manifested by the following symptoms.

Painful sensations when moving the eyeball.
Reduced visibility area.
The development of tunnel vision syndrome, when a person sees surrounding objects as if through a pipe.
Impaired color perception and discrimination.
Deterioration of general visual acuity.

The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the described changes for the worse are practically not subject to correction.

The disease progresses over time, and by continuing to drink alcohol, a person risks permanently losing his vision. In each specific case, this process occurs at an individual speed: for some - quickly, for others - gradually.

How to restore vision after drinking alcohol

In the treatment of vision pathologies associated with intoxication as a result of drinking alcohol, the most important criterion for success is complete abstinence from alcohol. Experts recommend avoiding the use of ethyl alcohol, even if it is a component of certain medications. If you need to take a medicinal tincture, you need to remove the alcohol from it in the form of vapor by dissolving the drug in hot water - in this case, you can neutralize the harmful effects of alcohol.

If discomfort occurs in the organs of vision, a specialist may prescribe special eye drops that relieve itching and burning sensations, stimulate improved tear production and restore tissue nutrition. To eliminate the negative effect of alcohol on vision, vitamin preparations can be used. First of all, the eyes require ascorbic acid, carotene, tocopherol and some other substances.

Many people simply underestimate the dangers of alcohol abuse. Seriously deteriorating or completely losing vision while drinking alcoholic beverages, especially in large quantities and over long periods, is much easier than it might seem. To avoid such vision problems, you should not only minimize alcohol consumption, but also make changes to your lifestyle, in particular, adjust your diet.

What foods that are healthy for your eyes should be included in your diet.

Blueberries are a real storehouse of vitamins beneficial for vision, which can be consumed with benefits for the eyes, both fresh and frozen or dried. To strengthen your vision, you can also do special gymnastics and palming - procedures aimed at blood supply to the eye tissues and strengthening the muscles. Washing with cold water provides a tonic effect: daily use of this procedure allows you to restore the functionality of the eye vessels.

The choice between regular alcohol abuse and taking care of your eyesight is obvious. Alcohol may bring joy and emotional excitement for a short time, but will these temporary joys compensate for the possible loss of vision? Drinking beer, wine and other drinks containing alcohol may seem fashionable and in some situations almost obligatory, but it is worth thinking about whether such a tribute to fashion can compensate for the loss of health.