Marijuana's Effect on Pinguecula/Ptygerium

[Brandonr3]

I have Pingueculae in each of my eyes and i i notice that when i smoke marijuana they become more apparent. I was wondering if smoking would actually increase the size of the Pingueculae because of the eyes getting really red, or if a Pinguecula will only grow because of inflammation caused by UV light and wind.  Thank You!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS]

Marijuana is a carcinogen it causes cancer at a higher rate than tobacco use. If you can take those kinds of risks why worry about what it will do to your pinguecula

JCH MD

[Brandonr3]

I use a vaporizer so 95% of the carcinogens are taken out. With this is mind, what do you think?

[Duckdotcom]

Your allergies are responding to the irritation from the smoke.  Parts of your eye are inflamed from the pinguecula already,  The smoke irritation just irritates your pinguecula more.  Pinguecula grow from light, wind and dust.  Be sure to use lubricating eye drops frequently when you believe your eyes feel dry.  Stay away from visine.

Student

and JCH MD, your a ****

[mmmmpppp]

Just because millions of Americans use marijuana, surely you don't think it behooves our medical establishment to know anything about it.  After all, marijuana is "bad."

[Brandonr3]

But the redness and growth of my Pingueculae are cause from an internal reaction and not from smoke actually making contact with the outside of my eyes. Again, i do not smoke marijuana, i vaporize. I am just wondering if the inflammation caused by the internal reaction of the THC with my body is indeed causing growth of the pingueculae....

[Duckdotcom]

not smoke in your eyes, smoke in your blood, its causing an inflammation reaction in your eyes because of the allergic response, also your blood pressure rises when you smoke anything.  UV, wind and dust are primary suspects in pinguecula growth, Mary jane just aggravates your bodies reaction to them and makes them more apparent.  I know because I have them and when I have used marijuana I noticed they were more irritated than before.  My pings got very severe recently after i removed some very old carpet from my house and then again after I removed some really really old shingles off my roof, not before then did they ever get severe.  Not while I spent 7 years skiing on top of mountains and hiking those same areas as a biologist, and daily THC inhalation.  They never grew from all that UV exposure until I was exposed to the dust from demoing a very old house.  Then they grew right after one demo episode and then again right after the second episode.  I have been to the optometrist and they agree that the dust is the culprit along with UV.  They have been there for a long time but never noticeable until the dust exposure.  My pings get irritated when dry just like they do when I'm high and I don't use a vaporizer.  I have a prescription for the inflammation (predisone acetate) and its working really well to reduce the inflammation and discomfort.  

What a fella could do is think back to when his pings started to develop and what irritated them.  If you can't think of anything else that is making your pings grow (if they are growing) then try to eliminate that stress.  Are you golfing without sunglasses, fishing, motorcycling, remodeling?  

There is no evidence to suggest that marijuana causes pings to grow, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.  

[Dannym195]

I have been smoking for about 4 years now and within the year have been smoking more. Almost everytime I smoke, the morning after I wake up with  a watery, itchy, and somewhat painful left eye. It is very annoying. I usually can't leave the house for about 4 hours until it clears up so I can drive or have a conversation with someone without rubbing my watery eye. Could this be an allergic reaction the marijuana? I noticed it only happens after I smoke and it's definitely not from the smoke going into my eye. Allergy?