It is common knowledge that smoking is incredibly harmful to your lungs and heart. The harsh smoke and chemicals can give you cancer if you smoke for long enough. That being said, recent studies have shown that smoking can also damage your ability to see clearly. Familiarizing yourself with how smoking affects the body can give you a better sense of just how dangerous the act is.

Eye Sensitivity

Reports have concluded that people who smoke are over twice as likely to develop Dry Eye Syndrome as those who do not smoke. People who have this condition are not able to produce the quality and quantity of tears necessary to keep their eyes hydrated. Tears are tremendously important because they help you see clearly and help remove particles that come into eye contact.

If your eyes are not properly producing tears they will become more sensitive and can force you to rely on artificial tears for lubrication.

More Likely to Develop Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

Smokers are around four times as likely to develop age-related macular degeneration. This condition is brought about by the central area of the retina deteriorating. This lowers the ability of an eye to focus on an object, which can have huge implications. Without a robust ability to focus in the central portion of your vision, ordinary things like driving a car or reading text can prove to be very challenging, even if you use lenses from a store like Lens.com. This kind of irreversible damage can drastically limit what you can do. Furthermore, people who regularly experience secondhand smoke are also more likely to develop the health condition.