Smoking cigarettes devastates the human body. Smoking affects the skin by reducing its elasticity, speeding up the wrinkling process, and increasing the risk of certain types of skin cancer. Quitting smoking can therefore improve your skin by reversing the damage: slowing the development of wrinkles, increasing your skin's elasticity, and reducing the risk of skin cancer.
Slow the Wrinkling Process
When you smoke cigarettes, you reduce the amount of oxygen in your blood. The healthy functioning of your organs --- of which your skin is one --- depends upon a constant supply of oxygen, water, and nutrients from your blood. Your skin ages prematurely when it does not receive this supply, and it begins to wrinkle. A 2008 study by researchers from the Catholic University of Korea's Department of Dermatology showed that current smokers scored significantly higher than nonsmokers on three key measures of skin wrinkling: arithmetic average roughness, average roughness, and distance between highest and lowest roughness values. The study also showed that current smokers scored higher than past smokers, suggesting that quitting smoking definitely slows the wrinkling process, and may even allow for some skin restoration.
Improve Skin Elasticity
Healthy skin is elastic; it can recover, undamaged, after being stretched, much like a rubber band. Smoking reduces the amount of blood that reaches the skin, thus making it drier. Dry skin is less elastic, and cannot recover as easily from being stretched. This may increase a smoker's chance of developing loose skin and stretch-marks after weight gain. Reduced elasticity also contributes to the development of wrinkles as the facial skin stretches when you make certain expressions. Quitting smoking restores healthy blood circulation in the skin, resulting in the return of the skin's elasticity over time.
Reduce the Risk of Skin Cancer
Smoking increases the risk of many cancers --- most famously lung cancer. Smokers are even more likely to develop certain types of skin cancer than nonsmokers, as the toxins and carcinogens inhaled through the lungs enter the blood and are delivered to all of the body's cells, including skin cells. A 2001 study by researchers at Holland's Leiden University Medical Center showed that cigarette smoking is an independent risk factor for the development of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin --- a common and usually curable form of skin cancer. The same study showed that cigarette smoking does not increase the risk of developing other types of skin cancer, such as superficial multifocal basal cell carcinoma, nodular basal cell carcinoma, or malignant melanoma.
