Abstract

DO.17.06

Smoking is a risk factor for eye diseases – a review

Carl Erb
Schlosspark-Klinik, Abteilung für Augenheilkunde, Berlin

Smoking is a general accepted soft drug despite it´s well-known side-effects. There is a remarkable trend towards heavy smokers and to abuse in the youth. Smoking of one cigarette results in 1 litre smoke with about 4000 different substances with some have carcinogenic and toxic effects. Smoking increases susceptibility to bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema, gastritis, duodenal ulcer, osteoporosis and accelerates senescence. Background of these diseases are mainly disturbances in microcirculation. In ophthalmology, smoking is an important risk factor for age-related macular degeneration, primary open-angle glaucoma, cataract, Graves disease, squint and dry eye syndrome. In addition it was shown that smoking has some negative effects to electrophysiology and to colour vision. Therefore smoking should be catered to our patients to reduce the oxidative stress by smoking to slow down the disease progression.

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