Health

Smoking can ruin your VISION as experts warn 20-a-day habit strips smokers of colour perception


SMOKING 20 cigarettes a day can wreck your vision and harm your ability to see colours, a study has found.

Smokers have a reduced ability to differentiate colours, as well as a harder time seeing contrast and shading compared to non-smokers.

 A new study has found that smoking 20 cigarettes a day can wreck your vision and harm your ability to see colours

Getty – Contributor

A new study has found that smoking 20 cigarettes a day can wreck your vision and harm your ability to see colours

A study led by Rutgers University in New Jersey found that heavy smokers did not see as much difference between colours compared to non-smokers.

Of a group of 134 healthy people aged between 25 and 45, 71 had smoked fewer than 15 cigarettes in their lifetimes, whereas 63 smoked more than 20 a day.

Researchers looked at how well the participants could see contrast levels and colours while looking at a screen.

Results found that there were significant changes in the smokers’ red-green and blue-yellow colour vision.

In the majority of cases colour problems are genetic, but disease or injury – such as that caused by diabetes or glaucoma – to the the optic nerve or retina can also cause loss of colour recognition.

Scientists already know that exposure to chemicals found in cigarettes like carbon disulphide and styrene can damage vision but there are few studies linking smoking to colour vision deficiency.

The new research, which was published in the journal Psychiatry Research, indicates that smoking could damage the blood vessels in the eyes, causing colour vision deficiency.

What is colour vision deficiency?

People with colour vision deficiency find it difficult to distinguish between certain colours.

It is sometimes called being colour blind, though complete colour blindness is rare.

The condition is usually inherited but it can sometimes develop later in life because of illness.

It occurs when some of the colour sensitive cells in the eyes are either missing or don’t work properly.

Most people with the condition struggle to distinguish between red, yellow and green, known as “red-green” colour vision deficiency.

In rare cases some people have trouble with blues, greens and yellows, which is now as “blue-yellow” colour vision deficiency.

Smokers are also doubly at risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, a common condition which damages vision over time.

Dr Steven Silverstein, co-author and director of research at Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, said: “Cigarette smoke consists of numerous compounds that are harmful to health.

“And it has been linked to a reduction in the thickness of layers in the brain, and to brain lesions, involving areas such as the frontal lobe, which plays a role in voluntary movement and control of thinking, and a decrease in activity in the area of the brain that processes vision.

“Previous studies have pointed to long-term smoking as doubling the risk for age-related macular degeneration and as a factor causing lens yellowing and inflammation.

“Our results indicate that excessive use of cigarettes, or chronic exposure to their compounds, affects visual discrimination, supporting the existence of overall deficits in visual processing with tobacco addiction.”

Every year around 78,000 people in the UK die from smoking, according to the NHS.

It causes cancer in many parts of the body, including the lung, mouth and throat.

Smokers are also at a greater risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

 The study found that heavy smokers did not see as much difference between colours compared to non-smokers

Getty – Contributor

The study found that heavy smokers did not see as much difference between colours compared to non-smokers
Terrified father chases moving train after leaving his baby on board to smoke a cigarette


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