Smoking doubles risk of advanced macular degeneration

According to a survey that appeared in Eye, the magazine of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists of London, smokers are doubly at risk of advanced macular degeneration (Amd), but they usually underestimate the high and actual risk of endangering sight through this addiction.

For this reason, Amd Alliance (which promotes research into this illness) and the Royal National Institute of the Blind (both institutes take care of the blind), have invited the government to introduce specific warnings on cigarette packets to intensify awareness-raising campaigns.

According to researchers, smoking is the only sure cause of Amd against which effective countermeasures can be taken. The disease normally appears after 50 and damages the retina. Although in some cases laser surgery can help to cure wet Amd (90% of cases are dry SMD and only 10% are wet), at the moment there is no absolute cure.

In Great Britain alone, over 500 thousand people suffer from this disease and, according to the latest surveys carried out by Amd Alliance, 54,000 cases are directly related to smoking.

The importance of prevention and correct information is confirmed by a survey, carried out by Amd Alliance, which shows that a large number of smokers would be ready to give up smoking (41%), or at least cut down on the daily number (28%), if it would help to prevent sight loss.

Some research has shown that anyone who stopped smoking at least 20 years ago is as likely to develop the disease as a non-smoker, whereas the risk of the disease begins to lessen after 10 years of not smoking.

(Source: Adnkronos Salute)