Smoking is said to be one of the greatest evils that is capable of doing massive harm to you. From brain damage to a variety of health complications and even harming the pets, the list of negative effects of smoking is almost endless.
Yet convincing smokers to quit this harmful practice is not a very easy task. Apart from the health hazards, the act of smoking also affects the looks of the smoker in an adverse manner. You skin ages faster and a number of other aesthetic problems accompany it when you smoke.
Take a look upon how cigarettes take a toll on your skin and other parts of your body. These will perhaps boost you to quit smoking immediately.
How Cigarette Smoking Makes Skin Ageing Faster
Usually you feel a sense of calmness whenever you take a puff of cigarette. But this action has the precise opposite outcome on the blood vessels that become immediately thinner and this leads to spasms.
This reduces the circulation of the blood and decreases the level of oxygen in the blood. According to the doctors, anything that reduces the level of oxygen in the blood is bound to take a toll on the skin.
- Wrinkles – The decrease of the circulation and the reduced oxygen cause premature wrinkles and ageing. These are particularly pronounced around the mouth. Moreover, as you constantly purse your lips while smoking, it gives rise to cigarette lines that extend from the mouth. These are easy giveaways that someone is a smoker.
- Poor Wound Healing – Apart from that, the poor circulation induced by smoking also gives way to poor wound healing. This is the most obvious short-term effect of smoking.
- Ageing – The release of free radicals in the body is another direct result of smoking. This actually impairs the production of collagen and breaks down the proteins that maintain the skin. The process of natural ageing involves the formation of free radicals that leads to the oxidative impairment of the cells. A majority of the anti-ageing products are designed for removing these radicals.
When you smoke you actually aggravate the release of higher levels of free radicals that enhance the oxidative damage of the cells. This results in the ageing of the skin.
How Smoking Can Dull the Healthy Glow of the Skin?
The production of the red blood cells also decreases by the smoking. When you have reduced red blood cells your skin starts to look paler and greyish just like when you suffer from anaemia.
The smoke also affects the glow, smoothness and the texture of the skin. The chin and upper lip area where the cigarette lines appear, are especially affected in this case.
You will also notice that your skin lacks the glow and the softness if you are a smoker. This actually brings forth a rougher texture and of the skin.
Other Effects of Smoking on Your Aesthetics
Here are some other ways in which your skin and your entire body get affected by smoking. Just take a look.
- Psoriasis – This is an autoimmune related skin condition that can show up even if you have never smoked. Nevertheless, if you smoke, then the risk of this scaly condition rises up. Studies have revealed that if you are a chain-smoker and puff a pack every day for about a decade, the chance of psoriasis goes up. The probability is about 60 percent higher if you continue smoking for 11-20 years. The psoriasis risk is almost double for those who have been smoking like this for 2 decades.
- Bags Under the Eyes – If you smoke you are about 4 times more prone to a feeling of unrest as compared with the non-smokers according to research. This leads to the formation of bags under the eyes. It is possible that the nightly nicotine use makes you toss and turn leading to the formation of black circles and bags under he eyes.
- Yellowed Fingers – The nicotine in cigarette can vigorously stain your nails and fingers. You may find a few home remedies for this like using bleach solutions, lemon juice or scrubbing with steel wool. But it will be much easier if you just quit.
- Scarring of the Skin – Apart from losing the glow and the youth of the skin, smoking can also cause scarring of the skin in the face or other parts of the body. The nicotine leads to the narrowing of the blood vessels that limits the blood flow to the different parts of the body. This is known as vasoconstriction. As suggested above, this deters the healing of wounds and the scars are redder and longer than the non-smokers.
- Warts – Smokers are also vulnerable to the human papillomavirus (a type of virus) infection. This can give rise to warts including the genital warts. Though the genital warts are mostly caused by the HPV that is transmitted sexually, smoking is also quite a risk factor. Research has revealed that even taking the multiple sex partners into account, women who are smokers are more susceptible to genital warts than those who don’t smoke.
- Stretch Marks – The connective tissues and the fibres of the skin are damaged by the nicotine present in the cigarettes. This causes the skin to lose the strength and the elasticity. When you gain weight fast, stretch marks which are reddened skin striations can gradually fade to silvery hue when you gain weight in a rapid manner. Anyone can get rapid stretch marks especially with pregnancy. But the cigarettes can contribute to it in a great way.
- Skin Cancer – Smoking happens to be a leading cause of cancer. This can be any type of cancer including the oesophageal, mouth, throat and lung cancer. Therefore, cigarettes can also lead to the cancer of skin. Research has revealed that smokers are 3 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma which is the second most common form of skin cancer as compared with the non-smokers.
Wrap Up
Not only that your nearest dentist can also make you aware of the adverse effects of smoking on your oral health that can involve teeth staining and tooth loss to even oral cancer. Thinning of hair and cataracts can also be the results of smoking. With so many negative effects, smoking is a practice that should be abandoned rather than adhered to and if you want take care of your aesthetics as well as overall health, you should quit smoking before long in order to lead a healthier life and flaunt a gorgeous body.
