When you think of damage from alcohol, perhaps eyesight isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But alcohol can affect your body in many ways, including your vision and eyesight. Even after just one to a few drinks, your vision may become blurred, along with other side effects, such as slurred speech, slowed reactions, and memory loss or change. As with any substance, our bodies can only metabolize a specific amount of alcohol at a time.
If you or a loved one is struggling with alcohol use disorder, Vertava Health’s alcohol addiction treatment can help. Contact us today at 844.470.0410 to learn more about our alcohol addiction treatment options and how we can help you or a loved one get on the path to sobriety.
How Does Alcohol Affect Vision and Eyesight?
The following are ways excessive, long-term alcohol use and addiction can affect your vision and eyesight:
- Weakening of the eye muscles: this can permanently affect the eyes and damage the optic nerves, which communicate with the brain for vision.
- Slowed communication between optic nerves and brain — this slows communication between your eyes and brain and causes blurred or double vision.
- Slowed reaction time of pupils — this condition affects the ability of the eyes to constrict or dilate properly and may affect your ability to see different shades of color.
- Rapid eye movement — a condition that causes involuntary movement of the eyes in a back-and-forth motion.
- Permanent loss of vision or blindness — this can happen over time with long-term alcohol use and is known as toxic amblyopia.
Other Effects Of Alcohol On The Body
In addition to alcohol’s effect on vision and eyesight, drinking can seriously affect your health. Some of the organs that may see moderate to severe damage from alcohol use include:
- Liver — cirrhosis, fibrosis, fatty liver disease, or alcoholic hepatitis are possible conditions
- Heart — damage to the heart muscle, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, or stroke may result
- Pancreas — inflammation and swelling of the pancreas, as well as producing toxic waste
- Brain — interrupts normal pathways of communication and can affect brain function. Changes to the brain can affect mood or behavior and thought processes, including the ability to think clearly. Long-term alcohol addiction can also increase your risk of developing several types of cancer, including mouth, esophagus, liver, breast, and throat cancer.
What Can Be Done For Alcohol Use?
Alcohol may still be one of the top substances of use in the nation, but rehab centers are making strides in helping people overcome alcohol addiction. Treatment for alcohol addiction begins with detoxification. This process can be severe and should always be completed under medical supervision. Our rehab centers can provide the quality, experienced medical support you need to make it through detox.
After detox, you can move on to treatment. The type of treatment you receive varies according to your needs: the duration of use, the severity of damage to your health, any co-occurring disorders or conditions, other trauma, and more.
What Treatments Are Available?
Our rehab centers offer a variety of methods to ensure the most significant opportunity for a well-rounded healing experience. Addiction affects your mind as much as your body, and an excellent treatment program will target all of your treatment needs.
Some of our research-supported treatment modalities include:
- Gender-specific treatment
- Treatment for teens
- Treatment for pregnant women
- Behavioral therapy
- Counseling
- Adventure or wilderness therapy
- Holistic therapy
- Nutrition and exercise guidance
- Aftercare support
Find Help at Vertava Health
When we begin drinking for recreation, we may not be thinking about the consequences of alcohol use. But alcohol addiction can have dire effects on your health, including your vision and eyesight. If you’re one of the millions of adults struggling with alcohol, don’t allow alcohol to damage your health any longer. Contact the compassionate team at Vertava Health today at 844.470.0410 to learn how we can help you overcome your addiction and take back your life.
