[Effects of tobacco smoking on ocular thermoregulation]

Time course of eyeball temperature in response to smoking of a cigarette was studied in healthy smoking male volunteers aged 19 to 28 (24 men, 48 eyes). Before smoking the mean temperature in the limbic area of the eye was 31.7 +/- 0.1 degree C (the reference age-specific value is 32 +/- 0.02 degree C). It was reliably reduced 15 and 30 min after smoking (p < 0.01), recovering only in 90 min after smoking. Hence, tobacco smoking impairs the trophics of ocular tissues, these disturbances may be referred to signs of aging or to the initial stages of many well-known pathologic shifts in the eye associated with tobacco smoking (optic nerve atrophy, retinal degeneration, grave course of glaucoma, etc.).