Smoking is seen by some to create a glamorous, sexy or rebellious appearance. The truth is, it creates an appearance ravaged by the damage it causes to the skin, including a leathery, wrinkled and gray complexion. That damage begins to show even in young smokers.
Effects of Smoking On the Skin
Damage to skin from smoking shows up as wrinkles, lines, crow's feet around the eyes, dryness, and a coarse and weathered look. Smoking also causes skin to droop due to loss of elasticity and causes a gray or yellow complexion and a gaunt appearance. Even in a smoker in her 20s, healthy glowing skin is replaced by these signs of premature aging.
Causes
Nicotine, the addictive element in cigarettes, causes constriction of blood vessels in the skin that impairs blood flow. Less blood flow reduces the amount of oxygen and nutrients the skin receives, and many of the 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke damage the elements of skin that give it elasticity and strength (See References 2).
Repeated facial expressions made when smoking, such as puckering the lips and squinting the eyes, also lead to wrinkles.
Studies
A study from the University of Michigan Health System by Yolanda R. Helfrich, M.D., et al, published in the March 2007 issue of the "Archives of Dermatology," found that smoking is associated with a higher degree of aging on areas of skin that are not normally exposed to sunlight, suggesting that smoking is fundamentally damaging to skin from the inside out.
Helfrich, also an assistant professor of dermatology at the university, says, "We examined non-facial skin that was protected from the sun, and found that the total number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day and the total years a person has smoked were linked with the amount of skin damage a person experienced."
Warning
Smoking's damage to the skin goes beyond appearance. It delays the healing of surgical wounds and can increase the risk for infection.
Persistent leg ulcers caused by arterial disease can develop from smoking, and diabetics who smoke are more prone to non-healing foot ulcers that can lead to amputation of a limb.
Smoking can increase the severity of viruses of the skin, such as genital warts, and raises the risk for developing a wart-associated cancer such as cancers of the cervix, vulva and penis.
Expert Insight
Susan Boiko, M.D., a skin cancer expert affiliated with the American Cancer Society, reports people who smoke have more skin damage than others their age, showing wrinkles even in their 20s. "If you stand a cigarette smoker next to a non-smoker, the smoker will look more haggard," says Boiko. "You get yellow fingers and yellow fingernails, puckered wrinkled lips, and a weathered appearance with a sallow color to the skin."
References
- Mayo Clinic: Quit Smoking: Is It True Smoking Causes Wrinkles?
- DermNet NZ: Smoking and Its Effects On the Skin
- EurekAlert: University of Michigan Study: Smoking Linked With Aging On Skin That Usually Is Not Exposed To Sunlight
- American Cancer Society: Europeans Focus on Tobacco's Premature Aging of Skin
