HOW SMOKING IMPACTS ON YOUR SKIN

SMOKING

Smoking is a bad and unhealthy habit in which a person “inhales and exhales the smoke of the tobacco. People should not smoke because, obviously, it affects the smoker and also, it affects all the people that are around them. 

Do you know what happens to your skin when you smoke? 

We all know that the face of a 20-a-day smoker ages 14 years for every 10 years of smoking, which means a smoker in their 40s will often have as many wrinkles as a non-smoker in their 60s! 

Here's why:

- Smoking reduces the production of collagen by up to 40%. Ageing already reduces the amount of collagen we produce, and smoking just speeds up this process.

- The accumulated nicotine in your body deprives skin cells of vital oxygen, and smoking also reduces blood flow to the skin, robbing it of even more nutrients.

- When an organ is under attack (i.e. your lungs) your body diverts essential vitamins away from your skin to help.

- Smoking adversely affects the nerve endings in the skin, causing sensitivity.

- Smoking delays wound healing, including skin injuries and surgical wounds. It increases the risk of wound infection, graft or flap failure, death of tissue and blood clot formation.

- Smoking cigarettes doubles the risk of developing a type of skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma, compared to non-smokers. There is also an increased risk of oral leukoplakia (pre-cancer) and oral cancer; 75% of cases of oral cancer and lip cancer occur in smokers. 

- Smoke has a drying effect on the skin, causing dehydration and eventually wrinkles. Add to this the squinting and puckering that goes on during smoking and you're creating even more lines, which will eventually become permanent.

- Smoking reduces the body's store of vitamin A (which protects against skin damage) and vitamin C (which protects against ageing free radicals). Giving up may be hard to do, but the benefits are almost instant. within eight hours, nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in your body are halved, and in just two weeks you'll see an obvious improvement in your skin's colour (no more dull, grey days) and texture. You know it makes sense.