Tight ties could make you blind

It could be the perfect excuse for a dress-down policy at your office - wearing a tie can make you blind.

Buttoned-up businessmen who knot their ties too tightly are putting themselves at risk of glaucoma, a study has found.

A tie can constrict the jugular vein, which raises blood pressure, particularly in the eyeball. The effect is so profound that even wearing a tie in an eye test can lead to a false diagnosis of high eyeball pressure or glaucoma itself.

Researchers in New York monitored the internal blood pressure of one eye in 20 healthy men and 20 male patients with glaucoma, a condition that can lead to blindness.

They found that 60 per cent of those with the condition and 70 per cent of those with healthy eyes suffered an increase in internal eye blood pressure after wearing a tie for three minutes. In each case, the ties were tightened round a buttoned collar 'to the point of slight discomfort'.

To compare the different effects on eye pressure, the researchers tested the men wearing an open shirt collar, then three minutes after putting on a tie and three minutes after loosening it.

There was no difference between the groups before the ties were tightened and after they were loosened.

The study, in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, said: 'A tight necktie can be considered a risk factor in men who prefer to wear tight neckties, men with thick necks and white-collar professionals.

'The pressure increase is real but would not have been present had the patient not had the constriction around his neck.'

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