You don’t have to get regularly drunk to start to feel the effects of alcohol on your eyes. According to many health care and eye care professionals, men who drink 3 alcoholic beverages a day and women who drink 2 are already at risk for long-term effects. When you think of damage from alcohol, perhaps eyesight isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.
It can also affect your current and future eye health and vision. Over time, excessive alcohol use can cause lasting damage to the eye that may promote conditions of vision loss and unusual eye movement. The potential long-term issues relate to changes to the eyes’ structures or the communication between the eyes and brain.
Why do I get blurred vision when I stand up?
American Addiction Centers (AAC) is committed to delivering original, truthful, accurate, unbiased, and medically current information. We strive to create content that is clear, concise, and easy to understand. The delay is only a few milliseconds, but it can make a difference in your ability to carry out normal activities, For example, you may also experience delayed reactions while driving. blurry vision after drinking alcohol Drinking too much alcohol can alter your contrast sensitivity, or how precise you can discern between shades of gray. The AMF states that it may be OK to drink a small drink (about 5 ounces) occasionally if doing so doesn’t trigger a migraine. Alcohol can trigger an immediate migraine in some people or cause a “hangover migraine” later, according to the American Migraine Foundation.
- Preeclampsia occurs in women who have never had high blood pressure before and generally occurs late in pregnancy, generally after 20 weeks.
- After 24 hours of no alcohol, your blood sugar levels will normalise, and any vision impairment will return to normal, banishing beer goggles.
- The disease causes inflammation along the nerve that connects your eyes to your brain, called the optic nerve.
- One of the key signs that you’re having a stroke is a sudden, painless change in eyesight.
It can have serious, life-threatening effects on you and your baby. Some Problems From Heavy Drinking
Double and distorted vision can occur from information that is slowed down between the eye and the brain. Decreasing the reaction time for the pupils to dilate, alcohol can impair the ability to see different color shades or adjust to lighting differences.
Alcohol and Vision: How Drinking Affects Your Eyes
Getting red eyes after drinking is not a long-term consequence, and your eyes should regain their normal color once the alcohol has left your system. But while these effects are temporary, even a small amount of alcohol can cause the uncomfortable effects of eye dryness. There are a host of other symptoms that you might have with the pain, including blurry vision and sensitivity to light. You may feel these signs even before a migraine starts, and they may last until it’s over.