Ophthalmologists say that alcoholic drinks can not only impair visual acuity, but also lead to complete blindness. Even with irregular use, there is a negative impact and influence. It is important to timely define problem, fight it so as not to harm your body.
The effect of alcohol on vision: what is the mechanism?
So, the eyes are highly sensitive. And therefore the effect of alcohol on vision turns out to be sharply negative . In some ways, vision problems appear to be related to the body's general reaction to alcohol. Alcohol creates problems with blood supply; it causes problems with the normal functioning of blood vessels, and their integrity may be impaired. Intracranial pressure can change in sharp jumps, as well as pressure in general. In some situations, even a single dose of alcohol has a powerful negative effect, and then it takes a very, very long time to treat the consequences.
Sometimes drinking alcohol has a temporary effect. This may be diplopia, that is, double vision. Dryness of the cornea, lacrimation, and redness of the white may also be observed. As a rule, such phenomena disappear within a few days. When seeing double from alcohol, the symptom may pass even faster , disappearing by the time the person sobers up. But not in all cases the problem is solved so easily.
With chronic alcoholism, the human body can suffer much more severely. Atrophy of the optic nerves may occur. At the same time, vision deteriorates very sharply. If a person abuses alcohol, he should think in advance about how alcohol affects vision. After all, you can lose this priceless gift at any time. Treatment is not always possible. Often the disease develops very rapidly , although in other situations vision deteriorates gradually.
Everything happens very individually. Noticing this symptom, people do not always react to it in a timely manner. As a result, they see a doctor too late.
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Effect of alcohol on bones
Drinking alcoholic beverages contributes to metabolic disorders in the body, including the nutrition of cartilage tissue. Damage to joint tissues in alcoholics develops much more often than in people who do not drink or drink little. With excessive drinking, the cartilage gradually becomes thinner, the joints begin to ache, and the bones become deformed.
The influence of alcohol on human development
Full personality development with constant alcohol consumption is impossible. An alcoholic not only suffers from the disease himself, but also makes his family and friends suffer. The inappropriate behavior of alcoholics destroys their family life and creates problems at work and in relationships with colleagues. A drinking person cannot fully engage in serious matters, he cannot concentrate, and he does not assimilate new information material well. Typically, such people do not stay in more than one place of work for a long time.
The effect of alcohol on the stomach
Alcohol has a very bad effect on the digestive system. The stomach, pancreas and esophagus are damaged when ethyl alcohol enters. The destruction of cells on the inner surface of the digestive organs provokes disturbances in the absorption of nutritional components. Digestive problems, abdominal pain appear, and diabetes mellitus develops. Heavy alcoholics often suffer from cancer of the gastrointestinal tract.
The effect of alcohol on the skin
One of the first external manifestations of excessive alcohol consumption is redness of the skin of the face. Allergic reactions to alcohol often develop. Dehydration of the body due to drinking leads to early aging of the skin, premature wrinkles appear. Alcoholics also often suffer from swelling. This happens because part of the incoming fluid accumulates in the tissues. Skin problems are especially pronounced in women suffering from alcoholism. And the more a woman drinks, the more skin problems she has.
The effect of alcohol on vision
Alcohol abuse leads to diseases of the cornea and retinal pathologies. Alcohol negatively affects the center of the brain that responds to visual functions. The effects of ethanol on vision can be temporary or permanent. As soon as alcohol enters the body, the functioning of the nervous system is disrupted, and the nerve endings of the eyes lose sensitivity. In this case, temporary loss of vision occurs. Permanent loss of vision is already observed in heavy drinkers due to the development of cataracts or other serious illness. In some cases, alcoholism can lead to complete loss of vision.
The effect of alcohol on immunity
Frequent consumption of alcohol contributes to the appearance of allergies and a decrease in the body's protective functions. It is weakened immunity that causes the development of various infectious diseases. Alcoholic drinks have a negative effect on the body's metabolic processes and inhibit the functions of the central nervous system. The effect of alcohol on the immune system can be positive if consumed in small quantities.
The effect of alcohol on the thyroid gland
The thyroid gland is the most blood-supplied organ in the human body. Ethyl alcohol has an extremely negative effect on thyroid function. Regular drinking of alcohol leads to either insufficient production of hormones or to their excess. Hypothyroidism develops when hormones are deficient. The disease significantly worsens a person’s physical condition, weakness appears, blood pressure decreases, and depression may develop.
The effect of alcohol on the reproductive system
Addiction to alcohol has a negative effect on the reproductive function of both men and women. Drinking alcohol disrupts ovulation and promotes the degeneration of normal eggs into fatty ones. For this reason, conception becomes a rather difficult process. Even if pregnancy has occurred, alcohol negatively affects the embryonic development of the fetus. A woman who drinks will not be able to bear and give birth to a completely healthy child.
The influence of alcohol on a teenager
The young body is still growing and developing. The effect of alcohol on a growing organism is most dangerous. The ethanol contained in alcohol causes an irreparable blow to the unformed brain of a teenager, to his nervous and cardiovascular systems. The negative impact of alcohol on the organs will not allow you to develop a full-fledged personality. The psyche and mental activity of adolescents who drink suffer, which quickly leads to degradation. Therefore, it is important to start comprehensive treatment as early as possible.
The effect of alcohol on the female body
The well-known expression “female alcoholism is incurable” is far from a myth. A woman’s body gets used to a destructive addiction much faster, and it is much more difficult for women to completely get rid of addiction. Drunkenness negatively affects all female organs. The risk of developing cancer, in particular breast or uterine cancer, increases.
The effect of alcohol on the nervous system
Alcoholism contributes to disruption of the nervous system. The person has problems with memory and concentration. The mental state is disturbed, adequate perception of what is happening disappears. Against the background of damage to the functions of the central nervous system, human behavior also changes. Not only mental disorders appear, but also coordination of movements is impaired.
The effect of alcohol on the fetus during pregnancy
Reproduction of offspring requires adherence to a proper lifestyle and a nutritious diet. Only under these conditions will the fetus develop harmoniously, and subsequently a healthy baby will be born.
The pregnancy of a woman who abuses alcohol often ends in miscarriage, or the development of a fetus with pathologies. Alcohol can have the following negative effects on the fetus:
- Development of alcohol dependence in the fetus;
- Pathologies in the structure of the skull and maxillofacial area;
- Underdevelopment of the respiratory system;
- Underweight;
- Mental disorders;
- Intrauterine growth retardation.
How ethanol affects the development of the fetus depends not only on the amount of alcohol consumed, but also on the individual characteristics of the pregnant woman’s body.
Alcohol and vision: why does it worsen?
Understanding why double vision after alcohol, and why other disorders occur, it is necessary to consider how this substance affects the condition of different eye tissues. It’s worth starting with such a phenomenon as diplopia, which is what double image is called.
As a rule, the problem occurs both when drunk and then after a hangover. The fact that you see double after alcohol, upon closer examination, is not at all surprising. After all, the eye muscles are a vulnerable system consisting of the smallest muscles in the human body. With the toxic effects of alcohol and its breakdown products, the coordination of muscle activation in this system disappears, which ultimately leads to a bifurcation of the visible . In such a situation, the eyes often see differently, one of them greatly loses the acuity of perception. The visual axes also turn out to be displaced.
If you see double after drinking alcohol
Diplopia, a condition in which a person sees double, is the most common symptom of intoxication. Anyone who drinks alcoholic beverages has encountered it. This causes vision to deteriorate temporarily. Diplopia can also persist in a state of so-called hangover. It usually goes away after the body has fully recovered.
Alcohol primarily affects the center of the brain. Because of this, the performance of all eye structures decreases.
The eye muscles work slowly, the visual axes shift. In this case, the ocular muscles of the left and right eyes function inconsistently. One of them may see worse than the other. A person receives two different pictures that cannot be combined into one image. This symptom occurs only when drinking alcohol in large quantities. A glass of light wine does not cause double vision.
How does alcohol affect vision: why do eyes turn red?
So alcohol affects not only the brain or nervous system. The eyes are also affected by it, and its effect on the organs of vision is very powerful. It is not uncommon for your eyes to turn red after drinking. This condition can occur during a hangover. Reddening proteins are the result of disturbances within the circulatory system. Red blood cells fall during drinking, and along with them, hemoglobin in the blood decreases. Blood clots form. Clots interfere with normal blood flow . Normally, the eyes require a large volume of oxygen, this is a prerequisite for their normal functioning. If there is little oxygen, hypoxia is formed, as well as nutritional deficiency. The eyes do not receive enough oxygen and nutrients. A person feels that his vision is rapidly falling, his eyes are getting dark. At the same time, redness of the whites occurs.
Also, with a hangover, there is a narrowing of capillaries and blood vessels. In such a situation, capillaries can simply burst, forming those same bruises in the whites of the eyes. On the one hand, no special treatment is required; over time, the symptom goes away on its own. But on the other hand, with constant alcohol abuse, vision can be significantly damaged .
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.
Conception while intoxicated 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.
Field of view and its narrowing
As you know, drunk people often get into various troubles; they should not drive to avoid accidents. All this is quite natural, because a drunk person’s field of vision narrows. He sees what is in front, but the outlines of objects on the sides turn out to be blurry and indistinct. With a large dose of alcohol, the effect of tunnel vision can be formed, when a person sees straight ahead and does not perceive at all what is on the sides. As a rule, getting sober is enough to solve this problem. However, chronic drinkers often develop damage to the optic nerve due to atrophy and intoxication. Then the narrowing of the field remains forever. Medicine will be powerless here; you will have to live with such vision.
Alcoholism and contrastive perception
Another vision problem that can befall an alcoholic is a defect in color vision. The University of Chile has been observing the connection between colorblindness and addiction to alcohol for years. The result will be surprising: there is a direct connection between the health status of the liver and color perception. The more problems there are with this organ, the worse a person perceives colors and shades. And cirrhosis in its final stage is almost always associated with absolute color blindness. However, this is not at all surprising, because everything in the body is interconnected . When some systems are damaged, others automatically suffer as well. With alcohol abuse, the liver cannot produce the full set of enzymes necessary to ensure processes in the retina. As a result, the contrast of perception suffers.
But cataracts arise according to a different principle. the oxidative effect , plays a role . As a result, the lens begins to become cloudy and a cataract forms. This disease manifests itself most often in people who drink and smoke.
The effects of alcohol on a baby's eyes in the womb
Pregnant women should think about the health of their unborn child before drinking alcohol. Alcohol can enter the fetus's body and cause vision problems. Often, those who drink during pregnancy give birth to children with severe pathologies of the visual organs or their deformities. Medicine knows cases of the birth of completely blind children.
Almost everyone knows about the dangers of alcohol for the liver, heart and other organs. However, do not underestimate the impact of this bad habit on the eyes. Knowing about these consequences, you will think several times about whether it is worth risking your health.
MagazinLinz.ru team
What to do if vision problems appear after drinking?
Alcoholism often ends in atrophy of the optic nerve. And this leads, in turn, to absolute blindness. Such pathologies do not form overnight. But with constant alcoholism, ethanol gradually does its job , depriving the nerve of nutrition. Its fibers die, which, by the way, do not regenerate in the future. With nerve atrophy, the following symptoms are noted:
- Narrowing of the field of vision up to tunnel perception.
- Problems with color perception, including color blindness.
- The appearance of blind spots - areas with missing images.
- Pain in the eyes and headaches when trying to move the eyeballs.
These problems would not go unnoticed by a sober person, but a chronic alcoholic often simply does not notice them . The progression of the disease is rapid, and eventually it ends in loss of vision.
And if a person drinks surrogates, the situation may turn out to be even worse. Even a single dose of low-quality alcohol can lead to complete blindness or severe pathologies that cannot be corrected.
Destructive mechanism of action
Even a small dose of alcohol makes it difficult to focus on anything. This happens because the function of the eye muscles slows down. Inhibition in their work leads to a displacement of the visual axes. As a result, the visible image is distorted. This is the cause of blurriness, double vision, or otherwise, alcoholic diplopia, as well as dark spots and hallucinations in severe cases of alcohol abuse.
Alcoholism entails the gradual death of the optic nerve endings. This, in turn, leads to loss of functionality of the eye muscles.
When the first problems with vision begin, it is still possible to completely restore it. But if you ignore the obvious symptoms, the effect of ethanol on the visual organ will lead to irreversible consequences.
Poor circulation in the eyes
When alcohol enters the bloodstream, the number of red blood cells decreases. Their deficiency leads to a decrease in hemoglobin and the formation of clots, which complicates the transport of oxygen through the vessels. As a result, the nutrition of the eye tissue deteriorates. Therefore, with regular consumption of alcohol, dryness, burning and discomfort of the eyes are observed.
Circulatory disorders of the eyes
An alcoholic drink entering the bloodstream dilates blood vessels. Endorphins are released, which stimulates psychological recovery. This stage does not last long. Afterwards, the vessels narrow, which means an increase in blood pressure. As a result of narrowing of their walls and thickening of the blood due to the adhesion of red blood cells, blood clots form. The harm of a lack of oxygen is a significant deterioration in vision. It gets dark in the eyes, objects become barely visible. The inevitable consequences of the toxic effects of ethanol are partial, sometimes complete loss of vision.
Red eyes after alcohol
The vessels of the brain are also responsible for supplying oxygen to the muscle tissue of the eyes. The narrowing of small blood vessels causes increased intracranial pressure. As a result, small capillaries located on the retina and eyelids burst. Therefore, after drinking alcohol, along with other symptoms of a hangover, the eyes become red.
The consequence of alcoholism is damage to the entire blood supply system. The tortuosity and fragility of the blood vessels lead to regular hemorrhages in the eyes and their pain. Redness is accompanied by pain and a feeling of sand. Itching and burning can cause complications, as various bacteria and viruses can be introduced into the visual organ through the hands. As a result, an infection develops.
Optic atrophy
Alcohol begins to have a detrimental effect on the eyes when the toxic products of ethanol break down. They reduce the sensitivity of nerve endings. During alcohol intoxication, the fibers of the optic nerves are damaged, which gradually die. Optic nerve atrophy leads to the appearance of blind spots. A person sees an incomplete picture. Gray or black spots appear before your eyes instead of entire sections of the image.
Alcohol leads to optic nerve atrophy
This phenomenon is called “positive scotoma” in medicine. It is not difficult to detect a defect in the fundus. The patient is asked to look at the sheet. Then you need to cover your eyes with your palm. When he removes his palm and looks at the paper again, he will see a gray or black oval-shaped spot. After a few seconds, the image will normalize and the spots will disappear. This is explained by blanching of the disc in the fundus as a result of atrophy of the nerve endings of the optic nerve.
Symptoms of optic nerve atrophy:
- moving your eyes in different directions causes pain;
- the zone of maximum visibility is significantly narrowed;
- “tunnel” perception appears - surrounding objects are seen as if through a pipe;
- color perception is impaired;
- there is a decrease in visual acuity and range.
If the atrophy process is started, the changes that have occurred are irreversible and cannot be corrected. The death of the optic nerve will progress. If the patient does not stop abusing alcohol, no operation will save him from vision loss.
Is it possible to restore vision after drinking alcohol?
In order to at least slightly protect the entire body in general and the eyes in particular, it is necessary to take activated charcoal even before the planned drinking. Then the toxic effect will be less. It is useful to use special eye drops that will help with dryness, burning, and redness. Various compresses and lotions also give good results .
It is also worth remembering that if you have eye diseases, you should not drink alcohol. Alcohol intoxication can have serious consequences, and the disease will worsen, its symptoms will become even more pronounced . It is worth remembering about medications that are incompatible with alcohol. If you would like to save your eyesight, and your entire body, it would be better to give up alcohol altogether. After all, chronic alcoholism has a very strong impact on health.
What are the benefits of alcohol?
Despite the obvious harm of alcohol, multiple scientific studies prove its benefits when consumed in moderation. This fact concerns reducing the risk of developing diseases of the cardiovascular system, in particular coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure. Alcoholic beverages are associated with reduced mortality in people with high blood pressure. Men and women who drink moderately have a reduced risk of developing gallstones. However, all beneficial properties disappear as soon as the systematic use of products containing ethyl alcohol begins.
