[Present knowledge on the effects of smoking tobacco on the eye diseases].

It is accepted that tobacco smoking impairs different functions of the organ of vision and can be the cause of different eye diseases. It is well-known that tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 substances, some of them exerting toxic influence on the eye by producing the ischemia or/and oxidative stress. In previous years, the association between tobacco smoking and cataract, age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), thyroid eye disease, anterior ischemic optic neuropathy and primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) were observed. It was also suggested that smoking might have a negative impact on the treatment of scleritis, thyroid eye disease and surgery of POAG. In last two years many interesting studies have been conducted on the influence of smoking on morbidity and the character of AMD, cataract, vascular diseases of the retina, cystoid macular edema complicating intermediate uveitis, refractive errors, thyroid eye disease and the function of the optic nerve and retina measured by electrophysiological techniques. Concluding there is increasing evidence that tobacco smoking is a risk factor in case of many eye diseases. This suggests that by eliminating smoking, it might be possible to decrease the morbidity of eye diseases in the future.