DID YOU KNOW?

Smoking can cause your skin to look pale and grayish and over time your skin can start to look leathery. But did you know that even secondhand smoke can result in a dull, flaky, and blotchy-looking face.

Want to look old before your time? If so, smoking is the way to go. Research shows that next to sun exposure, nothing ages your appearance like smoking. Let us count the ways.

Smoking constricts blood flow to the skin, causing a pale grayish complexion. In addition, studies show that smoking damages collagen and elastin, proteins that keep skin smooth and soft. That’s why people who smoke for years have leathery-looking skin.

Secondhand smoke is yet another skin enemy. It’s full of chemicals that have a drying effect on the skin’s surface. The result is a dull, flaky, blotchy-looking face. Yuck!

And that’s just the beginning. Besides aging your skin, smoking does other things to make you less attractive too. Let’s face it—smokers smell like cigarettes. And if you smoke yourself, that foul, stale odor is always on your clothes and in your hair.

Smoking also causes bad breath, and the tars in cigarettes make your teeth yellow.

So if you’ve ever thought that smoking makes you look sophisticated and older, you’re only half right. Smoking does make you look older—but definitely not in a good way.

references | updated: 05.09.2004

references

Williamson DF, Madans J, Anda RF, Kleinman JC, Giovino GA, Byers T. Smoking cessation and severity of weight gain in a national cohort. N Engl J Med. 1991 Mar 14;324(11):739-45.
You can Avoid Weight Gain When You Quit, DiscoveryHealth.com. Retrieved December 30, 2003 from http://health.discovery.com/centers/
quit_smoking/articles/weight.html
St. Helena Center for Health Nicotine Addition Program, Retrieved December 30, 2003 from http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/weightgain.htm

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