January 2nd, 2008
The Smoking Ban - Good News For Eyes?
The smoking ban in public places in England starts on the 1st July and is part of a government initiative to reduce smoking related diseases. These include respiratory, vascular and malignant conditions.
As optometrists, will we see any clinical effect from the ban?
Smoking has clearly been linked to cataracts. Studies have shown that smokers have up to a three-fold increase of developing nuclear sclerosis. Although potentially devastating to patients in developing countries where medical treatment is not so readily available, due to the advances in cataract surgery, many people in the western world with nuclear sclerosis undergo surgery and any degradation to the vision is eliminated.