Smoking: Do you smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day? It could damage your vision

WASHINGTON DC. [USA]One study warns that smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day can damage your vision by affecting the blood vessels and neurons of the retina.

The study, published in the journal Psychiatry Research, included 71 healthy people who smoked less than 15 cigarettes in their lifetime and 63 people who smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day, were diagnosed with tobacco dependence, and n & rsquo; Had reported no attempt to stop smoking.

Participants were between 25 and 45 years old and had normal or corrected vision, measured with the help of standard visual acuity charts, said researchers from Rutgers University in the United States.

They examined how participants distinguished contrast levels (subtle differences in shading) and colors when they were sitting at 59 inches from a 19-inch CRT display displaying stimuli, while the researchers monitored both eyes simultaneously.

The results indicated significant changes in smokers' red-green and blue-yellow color vision, suggesting that the consumption of substances containing neurotoxic substances, such as those of cigarettes, may result in an overall loss of vision in the eyes. colors.

They also found that heavy smokers had a reduced ability to distinguish contrasts and colors from nonsmokers.

"Cigarette smoke is made up of many compounds harmful to health," said Steven Silverstein, director of research at Behavioral Health Care at Rutgers University.

"It has been badociated with a reduction in the thickness of the layers in the brain and in brain lesions involving areas such as the frontal lobe, which plays a role in voluntary movement and control of thought, as well as in A decrease in activity in the area of ​​the brain that processes vision, "said Silverstein.

Previous studies have shown that long-term smoking doubles the risk of age-related macular degeneration and causes yellowing and inflammation of the lenses.

"Our results indicate that excessive use of cigarettes, or chronic exposure to their compounds, affects visual discrimination, supporting the existence of overall deficits in the visual treatment of tobacco addiction," said Silverstein.

Silverstein explained that while nicotine and smoking have harmful effects on the vascular system, the study suggests that they also damage the blood vessels and neurons of the retina.

He added that the results also suggest that research on visual impairments of visual processing in other groups of people, such as people with schizophrenia who often smoke a lot, should take into account their smoking rate or consider independently smokers and non-smokers.