Even if you don’t want to quit smoking for health reasons, try to quit cigarettes at least out of vanity. In order not to age faster and worse than necessary.
Do you not consider the warnings about the negative impact of smoking on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, as well as the risk of developing cancer (see some of the harmful substances present in cigarettes), even if it is proven by over half a century of scientific research and clinical observations?
| Harmful substances | Health effects |
|---|---|
| Carbon monoxide | Reduces blood supply to tissues |
| Tar | Contains many carcinogenic substances such as benzopyrene and other aromatic hydrocarbons |
| Formaldehyde | Causes irritation to the eyes and mucous membranes and persistent cough and is a carcinogenic substance |
| Arsenic | In addition to being carcinogenic, it damages the nervous and digestive systems |
In any case, there is another reason to quit smoking. Smoking is also bad from an aesthetic point of view: it damages the skin and makes it dull and wrinkled, and makes it age prematurely.
Nicotine and toxins contained in tobacco combustion products exert a whole series of unfavorable actions on the skin promoting aging processes, favoring dehydration and loss of brightness of the skin (especially at the level of the face, but not only).
They also favor the early appearance of wrinkles and imperfections that are proof of regenerating fluids and anti-aging creams. A big problem, in a world that asks to appear eternally young, inducing many to shell out thousands of euros for beauty treatments of all kinds.
One wrinkle leads to another
The harmful action of smoking on the skin accumulates over the years, with an intensity proportional to the number of cigarettes lit day after day.
The first damages begin to appear after about a decade, that is to say, often, already before the age of thirty since in the vast majority of cases the first steps towards smoking are taken during adolescence.
The process of promoting aging is subtle and its effects may not manifest themselves in particularly noticeable ways at a young age. But the degeneration of the structures of the dermis is progressive, unstoppable and irreversible.
The only way to stem the damage is to stop as soon as possible (or, preferably, not start at all).
Essential nutrients in smoke
How does smoking age the skin? First of all, by subtracting nourishment due to the vasoconstrictor action of nicotine, which reduces the efficiency of blood circulation through the cutaneous microcirculation.
With the result of compromising the oxygenation of the dermis and the arrival of essential microelements for the renewal of the epidermis, such as vitamin A.
To aggravate the situation we think, then, the more than four thousand toxic chemical compounds deriving from the combustion of tobacco, particularly harmful to the collagen and elastin fibers present in the deep layers of the skin and essential to ensure its tone and elasticity.
And in addition the slight, but not negligible, increase in temperature near the lips. Result: the skin becomes impoverished, dehydrated, wrinkled, even losing part of its ability to repair itself.
And wrinkles that “express” the habit
It’s not over. In addition to the chemical damage there is the mechanical one, linked to the repetitiveness of the movements associated with the aspiration of the smoke which favors the onset of expression lines.
The typical ones of smoking are the well-known, thin, numerous and evident fissures perpendicular to the rim of the lips; the unpleasant “crow’s feet”, which the continuous winking makes more numerous and marked; the lines of expression between the eyebrows.
Is it worth it? To each the choice of him.
Joycelyn Elders is the author and creator of EmpowerEssence, a health and wellness blog. Elders is a respected public health advocate and pediatrician dedicated to promoting general health and well-being.
The blog covers a wide range of topics related to health and wellness, with articles organized into several categories.