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Quit Smoking: Your Eyes Will Thank You For It
When it comes to smoking cessation, all the talk is usually about heart and lung health. And while that’s with good reason, it’s worth mentioning that the rest of your body will benefit as well.
When you smoke, you increase your risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. That’s true even of smokers in their teens and twenties, so age really isn’t a factor. Smokers have double the risk of developing cataracts, and heavy smokers have triple the risk.
Doctors believe that smoking speeds up cataract development by altering the cells of the lens. Smoking also leads to the accumulation of heavy metals, like cadmium, in the lenses.
And as for macular degeneration, the risk there is two to four times higher for smokers. And you could be endangering others as well — researchers have found a higher risk of macular degeneration in people who are frequently exposed to secondhand smoke.
And now, the good news: Once you’ve stopped, your risk for those diseases drops back down to levels comparable to those people who never smoked.
So if you didn’t make a New Year’s resolution to stop smoking, why not backtrack and put it on the list? Your entire body will benefit almost immediately, and your overall health and wellness will be boosted in the days, months and years to come.