Winter is cold, beware of this blinding eye disease!

In the cold winter, when you experience eye swelling, eye pain, or even headache, sore nose, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms, you may wonder if you have a gastrointestinal disease. Be careful! This may also be caused by glaucoma! Glaucoma is caused by various reasons that block the discharge of aqueous humor in the eyeball. Excessive aqueous humor is retained in the eyeball, resulting in increased intraocular pressure. Continuous high intraocular pressure will cause irreversible damage to various parts of the eyeball and visual function.

Why is glaucoma more likely to occur in winter?

Temperature factors. In winter, the temperature drops suddenly. The cold stimulation can excite the sympathetic nerves. At this time, the pupils of glaucoma patients tend to dilate, inducing the sudden closure of the aqueous humor outlet angle, blocking the outflow of aqueous humor, causing the aqueous humor to fill up, the intraocular pressure to rise, and leading to a sudden attack of glaucoma.

In winter, it is cold outside and warm inside, which causes a huge temperature difference. If glaucoma patients suddenly experience a temperature change from hot to cold when going out, it is easy to induce acute glaucoma. Especially for the elderly with glaucoma, due to poor body regulation function, the large temperature difference affects the temperature regulation center of the body; then it interferes with the intraocular pressure through the autonomic nerves, causing intraocular pressure fluctuations, and then induces an acute attack of glaucoma. It is recommended that the elderly with glaucoma find a temperature "transition section" before going out, such as staying in the corridor for a while, or standing at the door for a while to cool down, so that the body can slowly adapt to the cold environment outside.

Behavioral habits. Floor heating is dry in winter, and people like to eat hot pot when it is cold. Drinking a lot of water after being thirsty is one of the dietary taboos for glaucoma patients. After drinking a lot of water, the human body absorbs too much water, and the aqueous humor in the eye increases. Normal people can regulate it by accelerating metabolism and excreting excess aqueous humor. However, due to the dysfunction of the retina, glaucoma patients have abnormal aqueous humor discharge, which increases intraocular pressure and causes glaucoma attacks.

In addition, the weather is cold and the hands and feet are cold, so everyone likes to hide in the warm bed and is reluctant to come out. Lying down for a long time playing with mobile phones or reading books can easily lead to increased intraocular pressure, especially playing with mobile phones after turning off the lights at night, which is more likely to induce glaucoma.