by There are plenty of things we do in our day-to-day lives that are not necessarily good for our eyes or our vision as a whole. And while things like choose to not wear sunglasses while outside or skipping our regular eye exam are clearly poor choices when it comes to our eyesight when it comes to our eyesight, there are other things that you may not consider that could also be doing damage to your vision. One of these things is drinking an excessive amount of alcohol frequently.
Some of the immediate or short term effects of drinking alcohol include:
Lessened sensitivity to contrast
One of the most important things that your eyes can do is being able to distinguish different items based on light and darkness. This ability becomes particularly important when you are driving your car at night. When you drink alcohol, your eyes are no longer able to do this the way that they normally are.
Slowed pupil reaction
As you know, alcohol also delays our reactions quite a bit when we have ingested it. It also slows the ability your irises have to dilate and constrict. This can make it difficult for you to adapt to lighting changes that occur quickly, such as those headlights that are oncoming on the road.
Dry Eyes
Having as little as two alcoholic drinks in a sitting can exacerbate the symptoms of dry eye, as alcohol is well known for dehydrating the body.
Here is the long term damage of drinking:
Prenatal exposure
Just as the overall health of a fetus can be compromised by drinking while you are pregnant, it can also cause severe issues with the eyesight of the child as well. The majority of infant eye problems such as drooping eyelids, difficulty with eye coordination, and an underdeveloped optic nerve, are all things associated with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Higher Chance of Cataracts
There have been a handful of studies that have shown that there is an increased formation of cataracts in the eyes of people who consume more alcohol than what is considered to be recommended.
