GUMI, Korea Republic – Beauty is in the eye of the beholder — or the drunk, according to Korean medical researchers. A team of scientists at Kyungwoon University have uncovered evidence supporting the existence of so-called “beer goggles,” the imaginary lenses that make potential sex partners look more attractive after the viewer consumes alcohol.Alcohol long has been credited with decreasing inhibitions, thereby encouraging people to pursue all sorts of activities they might eschew when sober: dancing on tabletops, wearing lampshades on their heads, singing karaoke and accepting explicit invitations from individuals they might consider less than alluring under other circumstances. According to Cho Hyun-gug, the lead researcher in the study and a professor of visual optics at the university, alcohol also decreases visual acuity and blurs facial features.

Cho and his team studied 10 adults with an average age of 22.4 and healthy vision. The subjects consumed 360 ml of soju, a Korean rice-, potato-, wheat-, barley- or tapioca-based beverage similar to vodka. The soju used in the study had an alcohol content of 19.7 percent.

The researchers discovered one hour after consuming the beverage, when subjects’ blood-alcohol content was at 0.32 percent, visual acuity had fallen by 0.32 diopters. The decline represents a change in vision from 20/20 to about 20/30. Three hours after downing the brew, the subjects’ BAC was 0.17 percent and their vision was down by 0.27 diopters.

Although the change in acuity may seem small, it is noticeable, according to Park Sung-bae, an optometrist at Bundang Cha General Hospital.

“This increases distortion, so the facial features of the opposite sex appear less clear and may look more attractive,” Park told The Chosun Ilbo.

The study was published in the Journal of the Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society.