what smoking does to your skin

7/31/2019 What Smoking Does to Your Skin

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What Smoking Does to Your Skin

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Introduction

The health risks of smoking are immense butthe most visible of them all is the effect on theskin. People can notice a smoker miles away

because the skin looks dry, saggy, wrinkled,impoverished, and in dire need of a makeover.But the makeover wont come until cigarettesmoking is stopped. Experts say the body has

an amazing ability to heal itself and all asmoker needs to prevent further skin damageis to quit smoking.
http://2stopsmokingtips.com/2011/11/the-health-risks/http://2stopsmokingtips.com/http://2stopsmokingtips.com/http://2stopsmokingtips.com/2011/11/the-health-risks/


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Skin Damage From Smoking is Grave

While you may say the damage smoking does

to the skin is minute compared to the lung

cancers, COPD, or cardiovascular diseases, I

dare say any damage (whether superficial or

otherwise) should be looked into to avoid

further damage (because smokers can develop

skin cancer and thats not minute. Is it?).


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How Smoking Destroys the Skin

Preventive Dermatology by Robert A. Norman andMax Rappaport gives an overview on how smokingaffects the skin.

Smoking, according to the authors, causes

premature aging of the skin by affecting the color, toneand wrinkling. They further stated that smoking canincrease the risk for developing psoriasis (skin rednessand irritation), melanoma (risky type of skin cancer),squamous cell carcinomas (form of skin cancer) on lips

and tissue which lines the mouth. While stating thatsmoking could also be responsible for poor woundhealing due to reduction of oxygen and nutrients to theskin, they also said it could cause acne and hair loss.


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How Smoking Destroys the Skin(2)

Robert Jones explains further in his booktitled: Looking Younger: Makeovers ThatMake You Look as Good as You Feel.

According to him, smoking destroys collagenand elastin in the skin. Nicotine actually has aharmful effect on tiny blood vessels in yourface that feed and nourish your skin. Mostexperts consider smoking the number onecause of premature aging.


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How Smoking Destroys the Skin(3)

In addition, Jones maintains smoking can alterthe pigmentation of your skin, making it lookdry and colorless and that the habitual use of

certain muscles around the mouth duringsmoking can cause deep wrinkles.

He proffers a solution. According to him, thebest way to prevent these aging effects is tosimply not smoke. Bottom line: Smoking isrobbing you of beauty and youth.


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The Effects of Smoking on the Skin

Care to know some ofthe effects of smoking on

the skin? Find out below:

Premature Aging: A 2001 Japanese study to

investigate the association between wrinkle

formation and tobacco smoking confirmed that

heavy smoking causes premature skin aging. The

results of the study conducted at the Nagoya CityUniversity Medical School, Japan were published

in the Journal of Dermatological Science.
http://2stopsmokingtips.com/2011/08/effects-of-smoking/http://2stopsmokingtips.com/2011/08/effects-of-smoking/


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The Effects of Smoking on the Skin(2)

Wrinkles:The Tao of Quitting Smoking byJoseph P. Weaver, says scientists believe thatsmokers are three times as likely to develop

premature wrinkling caused by smoking,which can show up in people as young as 20years old. The four thousand-plus chemicalsin tobacco smoke interfere with

microvasculature pathways which nourishyour skin with oxygen rich blood, therebycausing wrinkling.


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Skin Tissue Composition: Smoking deteriorates thecomposition of the skin tissue and is sometimesresponsible for serious acne breakouts. Skin becomesdry and brittle with increased lines and wrinkles.

Poor Wound Healing: A University of Oklahoma HealthScience Center study co-ordinated by Silverstein, Pconcluded that smokers have a higher degree of poorhealing after face-lift surgery, as well as a greaterdegree of complications following breast surgery. They

should therefore be advised to quit smoking beforeundergoing any form of voluntary surgery or whenrecovering from wounds resulting from trauma,disease, or emergent surgery.


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Skin Tone and Colour: Among many other effects, smokingleads to a discolouration of the skin as well as prematurewrinkling.

Skin Cancer: While smoking has been scientifically linked to

a couple of ailments like Lung cancer, COPD and heartdisease, the evidence for skin cancer had not been tooclear. But in June 2012, a study threw more light on this. Itlinked smoking to one type of skin cancer. After goingthrough their pool of evidence, Fiona Bath-Hextall of theUniversity of Nottingham in England and colleagues

concluded that smoking is highly responsible for squamouscell cancer( a form of cancer of the carcinoma type thatmay occur in many different organs, including the skin, lips,mouth, etc).


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The Way Out for Smokers

Earlier in this article, I quoted Robert Jones (authorofLooking Younger: Makeovers That Make You Lookas Good as You Feel) as saying the way out is to stopsmoking and even though this will prevent further skin

damage, experts say it may not reverse past skindamage. The most sensible to do for most smokers isto quit smoking before any irreversible damage is doneto their skin. And so if youre reading this and stillsmoking as a chimney, you know just what to do.

Throw the butts away and get a non-smoking life! Asyou do so, you will no doubt find a companion in thisAction on Smoking and Health (ASH) ebook on howsmoking affects the way you look.
http://ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_115.pdfhttp://ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_115.pdfhttp://ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_115.pdfhttp://ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_115.pdfhttp://ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_115.pdfhttp://ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_115.pdf


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References

Looking Younger: Makeovers That Make You Look as Goodas You Feel, Robert Jones, Fair Winds, Sep 1, 2008, p. 65:

The Tao of Quitting Smoking, Joseph Weaver, Apr 30, 2004,Chapter 18

Preventive Dermatology, Robert A. Norman and MaxRappaport, Springer-Verlag London Limited 2010, p. 17:

Journal of Dermatological Science, Volume 27, Supplement1, Pages 26-31, August 2001

Smoking and Wound Healing. Silverstein, P. The American

Journal of Medicine vol. 93 issue 1 July 15, 1992. p. S22-S24 Smoking Tied to One Type of Skin Cancer. FoxNews.com,

June 20, 2012


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Thanks for Reading!!!

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