Blindness due to smoking

Over a longer period of time, the toxins inhaled through cigarette smoking can lead to the thickening of the vessel walls and thus also to a reduction in the blood flow to the eye. This can cause cataracts or early macular degeneration, which can lead to blindness. At macular degeneration the sensory cells responsible for the visual process and located on the retina, in an area called macula, perish.

Normally the macular degeneration is an age-related disease from the age of 50 on which can start much earlier due to smoking. In addition, through the inhalation of cigarette smoke more oxygen radicals are released, which can damage the tissue. Degradation products of the metabolism can no longer be adequately disposed of and are additionally deposited in the tissue.

In addition to this burden, the smoker usually has a reduced supply of vitamins and trace elements. However, these are essential for the supply of the body cells. In case of suspicion of a beginning macular degeneration due to smoking the consumption should be stopped immediately and vitamin deficits should be compensated additionally if necessary.

Blindness due to stroke

A stroke is a sudden disruption of the blood supply to the brain, in which brain tissue dies due to a lack of oxygen and nutrients. The blood supply can be blocked by a vascular occlusion or a cerebral hemorrhage can occur, the risk of which is increased by arteriosclerosis and high blood pressure. Depending on the region of the brain affected, visual disturbances may also occur as a result.

These include a hemiplegic loss of the visual field, which means that the patient is missing either the right or the left side of his field of vision in both eyes. This is caused by a direct lesion of the optic nerve. These cannot be repaired; instead, patients receive therapeutic compensation training to best compensate for the missing area of the visual field.

A further consequence of a stroke can be the temporary loss of visual acuity, also called visual acuity, as well as the perception of double images and generally unclear and blurred vision. The development of double images is a damage to the parts of the brain that are responsible for the movement of the eye muscles. Flickering and short-term blindness can also be symptoms. The secondary visual center is particularly affected, which is also responsible for linking what is seen with an association and learned terms.