Smoking and Secondhand Smoke

Have you ever noticed when they have those programs on television where they try to make ordinary people off the street look years younger that they always seem to choose people who have been smokers for a long period of time?

There is a very good reason for this and that is because cigarette smoking is one of the biggest causes of skin deterioration along with sun exposure.

Not only does smoking affect your skin condition but being around smokers and having to breathe their secondhand smoke will also affect your own skin condition.

Cigarette smoke contains a high concentration of a compound that destroys the DNA of skin cells and in doing so reduces the ability for those skin cells to renew themselves.

The problems for the smoker are considerable.
It is quite easy to spot a smoker from the fine lines that have formed prematurely around the mouth as a result of the action of sucking on cigarettes.

There are generally lines around the eyes from trying to look through the smoke haze.

The nicotine in the cigarettes slows blood circulation and this in turn causes other skin problems including higher rates of skin cancer and an inability to heal if there is ever any damage caused to the skin.

Smokers will usually have thinner dryer skin and an inability to utilize antioxidants that are required for maintaining a healthy skin.

The skin will rapidly begin to look lifeless and will lose its tone with increased smoking.

Only excessive exposure to the sun will cause more damage faster than smoking and a combination of the two will ensure that you look old well beyond your years.

Smokers have skin that is considerably thinner than non-smokers due to the deterioration of collagen and elastin and this is also responsible for the skin sagging.