According to a 2016 meta-analysis, alcohol can contribute to DED through multiple mechanisms and is a significant risk factor for it. Rest assured that at Heroes’ Mile in Florida, we’ve got blurry vision after drinking alcohol your six, and you do not have to deal with addiction alone. However, dehydration from excessive consumption might exacerbate the perception of floater and make the vitreous more noticeable.
- Your pupils will also react more slowly, so they will not be able to constrict or open up as well.
- Toxic amblyopia was very common before World War II due to excessive drinking and tobacco use.
- Heavy drinkers often neglect proper dietary intake, while focusing on alcoholic beverages instead of healthy food that provides essential nutrients.
Following a week of abstaining from alcohol, your body will reverse the effects of dehydration. Normal hydration levels will be maintained as long as you drink water frequently throughout the day. “The longer you abstain, you may also notice your eyes become brighter and whiter, as your body counteracts damage/yellowing of the sclera – the white part of your eye.
How Can I Minimize My Risk of Vision Problems?
Aside from the side effects listed above, there are many other ways that excessive alcohol affects the eyes. Alcohol addiction is a disease, and with the right treatment, you can recover from it. Bloodshot eyes, or red eyes, can indicate many things; allergies, infections, or lack of sleep. This happens when the blood vessels in the eye become irritated and enlarged. In fact, we experience rapid eye movements at night during our REM cycle of sleep.
What you may not know is that drinking alcohol can have much more serious, long-lasting consequences on your eyesight—including permanent blindness. 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. Other serious, long-term vision problems resulting from drinking alcohol include early-onset cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, and optic neuropathy. Although these are only minor issues, long-term alcohol abuse can permanently damage the optic nerves, which are responsible for sending visual information from the eyes to the brain. Everything is related in the body, which is why paying attention to your holistic health is so important.
The Role of Vitamins in Eye Health
The effects vary under the classification of short-term and long-term. The worse of all the effects pertinent to alcohol and eyes is Amblyopia. This is a gradual phenomenon which causes the eyes to lose color over a long duration of time. Eventually, the eyes get almost blind, and the eyesight is irrevocably lost.
- Increased blood flow to the eye area causes bloodshot eyes, which is triggered by alcohol’s tendency to dilate blood vessels in general.
- Our experienced staff at The Woods at Parkside has been delivering evidence-based addiction treatment for over 20 years.
- Likewise, too much alcohol causes the blood vessels in your eyes to grow, making your eyes appear red and bloodshot.
- Alcohol and puffy eyes are effects that can simply be cured by hydration and a good diet.
- Dry eye typically causes irritation and blurred vision, and can increase risk of infections.
It is a fact, not widely aware of, that vision can be affected by drugs and alcohol. Alcohol can cause dilated pupils, but at a different rate than other drugs. When people drink alcohol, their pupils dilate slower than they usually do, which can cause blurred vision or tunnel vision. This vision problem can lead to lots and lots of headaches, especially during the sobering-up stage. The pupils will take a little more time to get back to normal.
