Alcohol and Blindness: Understanding the Risks
Alcohol consumption is often associated with several types of health problems and can even lead to vision issues that may lead to blindness. Is there a link between alcohol and blindness? Moderate alcohol consumption doesn’t usually directly cause long-term vision problems or vision loss. But over time, with constant alcohol abuse, it can lead to blurred vision, headaches and other issues that are linked to blindness. Even moderate alcohol consumption can cause changes in a person’s vision.
Alcohol is one of the most commonly used and accepted drugs in the world. It is easily accessible and relatively cheap. It is widely marketed as a way to have fun and relax. It is less taboo to use than many other mind-altering substances. Because of its socially accepted status, the dangers and risks are often overlooked and even downplayed.
Effects of alcohol on organs such as the liver, kidneys and brain are well known and have been well studied. However, alcohol’s impact on the eyes is less commonly understood and studied. Heavy alcohol consumption can impact eyesight in two main ways. The first is a slow and gradual decline, in which chronic alcohol use can prevent your body from absorbing important nutrients the optic nerves need to survive. The other pathway is a direct poisoning that can potentially cause irreversible blindness in a matter of hours.
Why does your Vision get blurry after a few Drinks?
Have you ever wondered why your vision can get a little fuzzy after a couple of drinks? It is actually a common experience.
Alcohol is a depressant drug that slows down your central nervous system. So this also slows down message sending from the brain to your eyes. The slowdown can make it harder for tiny muscles around your eyes to control focus and eye movement. This causes temporary blurriness and even double vision. Short-term effects can also include eye dryness and redness.
This is only a temporary effect that occurs with short-term use of alcohol. As your body processes that alcohol, your brain’s command center will slowly go back to normal speed and your vision will return to normal.
Possible long-term effects on the eyes due to heavy alcohol consumption
- Accelerated age-related muscular degeneration
- Increased incidence of diabetic retinopathy
- Linked to central retinal vein occlusion
- Nutritional optic neuropathy
- Linked to the development or worsening of glaucoma
- Increased risk of age-related cataract
- Delayed reaction between the eyes and the brain
- A decrease in a pupil’s ability to dilate, which impacts how a person reacts to light and sees colors
- Bloodshot red eyes due to enlarged blood vessels
- Development of migraine headaches
- Changes in perception of color
- Abnormal eye movements
- Development of toxic amblyopia, which can lead to vision loss and is often associated with both drinking and smoking
- Ocular surface disease
The real dangers linked to Alcohol and Blindness
While temporary blurriness or double vision from a night out of drinking can fade, there are more serious complications that can develop with long-term and heavy alcohol use. Long-term heavy drinking can damage or speed up aging in various aspects of eye structures such as the lens, retina and optic nerve.
Retina. The retina is the part of the eye that is responsible for how you process signals from light. With excess alcohol consumption, the alcohol can cut off the blood supply to the retina due to its ability to constrict blood vessels. Over time, the poor circulation of blood can lead to blank spots in your vision.
Lens. The lens plays an important role in how your eyes fixate on things you look at. It impacts whether it’s directly in front of you or off in the distance. When you engage in excessive drinking, it can make the lens cloudy due to the inability to focus and a user can experience blurred vision.
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Alcohol’s Impact on Long-Term Eye Health
The most surprising reason and common cause of permanent alcohol related vision loss is that the alcohol is directly poisoning that eye. It is instead starving the eyes of essential nutrients needed to maintain eye health. Heavy and chronic drinking damages the stomach and intestines, which makes it difficult for your body to absorb essential nutrients from the food you eat.
The most vulnerable part of your eye is the optic nerve. The optic nerve is a high-speed cable network that carries everything you see from your eye to your brain. To work properly, the nerve requires a constant supply of specific vitamins like vitamin B12, also known as thiamine. Thiamine keeps nerve cells healthy and able to transmit clear and sharp signals to the brain.
B vitamins are essential for optic nerve health. Without these essential vitamins, it could lead to optic nerve neuropathy, optic nerve degeneration, blind spots in your vision, and difficulty seeing certain colors. All of these damages can eventually lead to chronic, permanent vision loss and blindness.
Alcoholic optic neuropathy is a type of nutritional nerve damage. As the nerve cells continue to decline, they are no longer able to transmit visual signals to the brain. This can happen gradually over a period of time. The person might first notice that colors seemed washed out, or that a frustrated, blurry spot has appeared. These subtle changes are the first warning signs that there is a problem between the eyes and the brain.
The warning signs: What does Alcohol Related Vision look like?
It can be easy to miss the warning signs of damage to your eyes. That is because it’s a slow and gradual process and there is no sudden event. The most common signs of alcohol damage include faded or washed-out color vision. Blurry, hazy or blind spots in the center of your vision that won’t go away. General difficulty seeing details or reading the fine print. And a painless progression of vision loss that can impact both eyes equally.
Methanol Poisoning
While vision loss can happen over a slow span of years, alcohol abuse can also cause methanol poisoning. In certain types of alcoholic beverages, there is a chemical called methanol. Even in small amounts, methanol is a potent poison. In fact, many documented cases of blindness caused by alcohol drinking are associated with methanol poisoning.
When methanol is consumed, the liver turns it into formic acid, which is the same chemical found in ant venom. This is toxic to the optic nerve and is basically like a chemical attack on the network that sends visuals from your eye to your brain and causes it to shut down.
Methanol poisoning can cause vision damage quickly. It can cause profound and irreversible blindness in both eyes within a matter of hours or days.
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Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder
Alcohol use disorder can lead to a variety of organ damage, including damage to your eyesight. Blurred or double vision may be a temporary side effect of mild alcohol use. But with heavy alcohol abuse, users are at risk for more dangerous outcomes that can include blindness due to alcohol consumption.
Professional behavioral treatment program Hotel California by the Sea provides support for alcohol use disorder. We offer treatment at all levels of care including detox, residential, PHP and IOP. We utilize evidence-based methods such as CBT, DBT and EMDR therapy. Hotel California by The Sea is dedicated to helping our clients reach their goals in sobriety and overcome their addiction.
References:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/alcohol-eyes
https://www.ophthalmologyadvisor.com/features/ocular-effects-of-alcohol-abuse/
https://www.washburnhouse.com/addiction-recovery-blog/can-drinking-alcohol-make-you-go-blind/
https://purposehealingcenter.com/can-you-go-blind-from-drinking-too-much-alcohol/
