TRUE – Need another reason to quit smoking? Smoking has long been known to cause heart disease and lung cancer; however many people don’t realize that smoking can lead to loss of your precious vision. Studies show smoking increases the risk of Cataracts, Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration, Diabetic Retinopathy and Dry Eye Disease. Doesn’t it make you wonder why anyone would start smoking?
Macular Degeneration affects 15 million American and is one of the leading causes of vision loss. Age and genetics are two of the risk factors, and unfortunately you can’t change either of those. But you can stop smoking. Smoking is the single more important environmental risk that you can modify to decrease your risk for Macular Degeneration. Multiple large, well-controlled, cross-sectional and prospective studies in the United States, Australia, France and the Netherlands have demonstrated a 2.5 to threefold increase in the risk of all forms of AMD in smokers. (Courtesy of Review of Ophthalmology)
