[The development of research on the effect of tobacco consumption on the visual organ over the last 200 years].

The purpose of the paper is to assess the development of research in the area of tobacco-related ocular diseases during the last 200 years. Although the first papers about the toxic effect of tobacco on the eye appeared in the beginnings of the XVIIth century, the real interest in this issue arose in the second half of the XIX century. Toxic neuropathy, often called tobacco amblyopia, was recognized as the most common ocular disease related to the use of tobacco. This disorder was described in hundreds of case histories by the most famous Polish and foreign ophthalmologists, for instance Szokalski, Gałezowski, and Sichel, Forster, Eales, DeSchweinitz, Uthoff, Gunn. In the XXth century, and particularly, in its second half, the incidence of tobacco amblyopia decreased, although the consumption of tobacco steadily increased in the same period. This phenomenon confirmed the conviction of the heterogeneous ethiopathogenesis of this disorder, including also alcohol intoxication, malnutrition, and especially vitamin deficiency. At the end of the XXth and at the beginning of the XXIst centuries evidence has been growing that tobacco smoking is a very serious risk factor in cataract, glaucoma, retinal vascular diseases, and most of all age-related macular degeneration. Although the incidence of toxic tobacco amblyopia is much lower than previously, tobacco smoking still remains the most powerful risk factor conducive to various eye diseases. Moreover, smoking being one of the most dangerous risk factors is at the same time the easiest one to eliminate in the prevention and treatment of eye diseases and blindness all over the world.