More than 6.5 million Texans have some form of vision impairment. At the same time, Texas ranks highest across the US for risk of having or developing an alcohol use disorder. Do these two stats connect to each other?
What many don’t realize is that alcohol use can influence vision, and even increase your risk of developing a vision impairment. At San Antonio Recovery Center, we often get questions about alcohol and its common side effects. One question we hear often is about yellow eyes and whether they relate to alcohol use.
Yes, yellow eyes from alcohol are possible, but are they dangerous? Can other things cause yellow eyes, too? We’re here to answer those questions and more.
If you’ve ever been drunk before, you already have a decent understanding of what parts of the body alcohol can impact – it’s more than most people realize. While many assume that the primary influence is on the brain and overall cognitive function, it goes beyond that. Alcohol also impacts your muscles, which then influences things like your lungs, heart, and even your eyes.
Alcohol is primarily a depressant, which is a classification for substances based on how they interact with the body as a whole. Depressants slow things down, reducing reaction time, heart rate, and breathing, to name a few things.
This slowed reaction time, in combination with loosened and less responsive muscles, is the primary source of alcohol’s impact on your eyes and your vision. While intoxicated, blurry vision is common. Through long-term alcohol use, you are at increased risk of macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, and more.
So where do yellow eyes come into all of this?
When someone mentions “yellow eyes,” they’re not referring to the color of someone’s pupil, but rather the whites of someone’s eyes being tinted yellow. The white part of our eyes, known as the sclera, is made up of fibrous tissues that work to protect the delicate inner workings of our eyes.
Our eyes have many, tiny blood vessels within them to keep them working properly. These blood vessels are the source of the whites of our eyes changing color. If they’re enlarged due to allergies or another source of inflammation, it can make your eyes appear pink-tinted. When bile within our body isn’t processed as it should be, it can build up in the bloodstream, leading to a yellow-tint.
Bile is a naturally occurring fluid in our bodies as we digest and process the various things we consume in a day. Normally, our liver is responsible for the bile being sent out of the body. If our liver isn’t functioning properly, the bile then builds up and leads to the noticeable yellow tinting of the eyes and skin, otherwise known as jaundice.
Our liver is a very important organ. It processes and filters unwanted and unhelpful substances and other fluids through the body. Alcohol is one such substance that is filtered through the liver.
However, just because our liver can process alcohol doesn’t mean that it isn’t impacted.
Alcohol is poisonous to the body. While we can, in theory, handle it in small and infrequent doses, within the last few years, science has concluded that no alcohol consumption is truly risk-free.
Over time, the more alcohol your liver processes, the more likely it is to sustain damage from its presence. This can lead to a build-up of fats and scar tissue, which reduces liver functionality. The problem will compound, as decreased functioning will increase the damage.
At first, this is nearly unnoticeable, with the initial stage of liver damage, fatty liver disease, rarely being detected. The next stage is hepatitis, which primarily consists of inflammation. Finally, intense inflammation and scarring lead to the development of fibrosis and cirrhosis, which are caused by inflammation and severe scarring. While fatty liver disease and hepatitis can be reversed with a cessation in alcohol consumption, the same can’t be said about fibrosis and cirrhosis.
Long-term alcohol use isn’t the only reason for yellowing eyes, though it is usually related to the liver, still. Here are just a few common reasons why someone might have yellowed eyes:
Some medications can also have jaundice as a side effect. If you’ve recently started a medication and have noticed a new yellow tint to your skin and eyes, contact your doctor.
If you or a loved one is experiencing yellow eyes, and you’re uncertain about the source, looking at context clues should be your first step. If someone is experiencing yellow eyes because of alcohol-related liver damage, they will also be showing other signs of long-term alcohol use.
The side effects from long-term alcohol use don’t appear overnight. However, this doesn’t mean that they’re always easy to immediately identify. A gradual change in someone’s behavior, physical health, or hygiene may go unnoticed until it’s at an extreme point.
This is where a list can be helpful.
Alcohol use impacts your mind and body, so the side effects will range from behavioral to physical, including impacting mental health. Here are just a few of the side effects that happen due to alcohol use:
There are other side effects that aren’t as noticeable, too, such as an increased risk of stroke and multiple forms of cancer.
If you notice that the whites of your eyes are turning yellow, you need to see a doctor immediately. This is not something that you can treat at home, and it can be a sign of something serious and life-threatening.
You may notice other symptoms alongside your yellow eyes, such as itchy skin, fatigue, fever, dark urine, a decrease in appetite, and nausea. The exact symptoms you experience will help a doctor diagnose the source of your yellow eyes.
Noticing yellow eyes in yourself or a loved one can be a scary experience. For some, this can be a deciding factor for them seeking alcoholism treatment. No matter your reason, there are quality treatment programs here in San Antonio that can help you take that step towards your new life.
Yellow eyes are not a permanent condition, and if it’s caused by alcohol-related liver damage, you can find healing from that, too. Through the completion of a treatment program and the stopping of alcohol consumption, your liver can start to heal itself.
You’re not alone in this. Over 2.5 million Texas residents had an alcohol use disorder in 2022. No matter your history with alcohol use or previous attempts at recovery, our team at San Antonio Recovery Center can help.
With the largest alumni network in the city, San Antonio Recovery Center is here for you as long as you want it. Our full continuum of care will help you find lasting recovery, beginning a new chapter in your life of happiness and healing. If you have any questions about our program or want to get started now, just give us a call at 866-957-7885.
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