Smoking is second only to sun exposure as the leading cause of premature skin aging. Get this. One single drag on a cigarette puts more than a trillion (that's trillion with a "T") free radicals into your system. What do they do? Among other things (like create critical internal damage to your cells and DNA) they break down the collagen and elastin in your skin so that it starts to lose its taut, youthful appearance. And, it's not just your face that's affected; your inner arms, neck, throat and décollete are all under fire as well.
Additionally, cigarette smoke releases a chemical called acetaldehyde that causes aging by breaking down the connective tissue that holds skin together so everything starts to sag.
And, there's more...
Next: Learn another sneaky way smoking ages your skin
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Smoking ages your skin -- Part 2
Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide, which deprives your skin of oxygen making it lackluster and dull. Also, nicotine, (the addictive troublemaker that it is) restricts blood vessels, which slows down blood, oxygen and nutrient flow to your skin leaving it sallow and dry. And, to make matters worse, because smoking damages your lungs and other body parts, most of your body's vitamin C supply is dispatched to help try and repair the harm to those parts leaving little, if any, left over to fix your skin, which is a lesser man on the totem pole.
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Smoking worsens under-eye bags and dark circles
We've already mentioned how smoking damages skin cells and robs them of certain vitamins including the hard working repairman, vitamin C. Plain and simple, smokers' skin is dehydrated and thirsty skin serves to aggravate circles and bags under the eyes.
Compounding the problem is the fact that, according to a John's Hopkins study, smokers are four times as likely as non-smokers to feel sleepy in the morning. Why? It's suspected that nocturnal nicotine withdrawal symptoms may disrupt sleep patterns. And, that lack of sleep can worsen dark circles and bags under the eyes.
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Smoking causes wrinkles (deep ones)
The repeated facial movements you make while puffing away on a cigarette (like pursing your lips together to drag on it and puckering to exhale its smoke) cause wrinkles. Squinting to see through the smoke you've exhaled does too. Make those movements repeatedly with skin whose elasticity is already compromised by the chemicals in the smoke, (as we previously discussed) and you have a recipe for wrinkle disaster. Ever seen those older women with lipstick bleeding up into the lines above their perma-pursed lips? Probably not the look you're going for.
In fact, the wrinkling that occurs as a result of smoking can be so pronounced and so alarming that there's even a website, age-me.com, that lets parents upload photos of their kids so they can see how pruned they might get if they decide to start smoking. Visuals are a powerful tool, and yes, you can upload your photo too.
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Smoking destroys your mouth
Sure, smoking gives you stinky breath. But did you know that, according to the American Dental Association (ADA), nearly half of all smokers will suffer from gum disease and that the preponderance of them will lose teeth by the time they're 65? It's true.
Oh, and have you heard that according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), 90 percent of all the people who suffer from oral cancers (mouth, lips, tongue, throat) are smokers?
While both of those effects may take a while to manifest, the yellowing of your teeth becomes readily apparent. Here's why. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says that the 4,000 toxic chemicals found in tar deposit a "sticky residue" on the surface of your teeth. Couple that with the fact that the same chemicals coat your teeth with plaque and your (formerly) pearly whites don't stand a chance.
Yeah, but surely those stains can be easily removed, right? Not completely. According to the ADA, the discoloration caused by tar and other chemicals in the tobacco are harder to remove than other stains because the smoke actually penetrates the tooth enamel.
If the fear of yellow (or no) teeth doesn't propel you to quit, how about a hairy tongue? (That's not a typo.) Hairy tongue or black tongue is a condition that arises in heavy smokers when the cells on their tongue stop their normal shedding patterns. It results in an overgrowth of bacteria and the appearance of dark hair-like growths that are a combination of fungi and old skin cells. Enough said.
Paging all women: This just in from the department of "tell me something I don't know" -- smoking is bad for you. It causes cancer, emphysema and heart disease and kills an estimated 2.5 million people each year. It's also getting outrageously expensive (in New York City a single pack of cigarettes costs nearly $13!) And, just in case all that isn't enough to prompt you to slap on a nicotine patch and quit smoking this minute, perhaps appealing to your vanity will. Smoking makes women ugly (Blunt? Yes. True? You bet -- and backed up by medical research).
We're not just talking about how you look while you're actually smoking, we're talking about the residual toll that smoking takes on a woman's overall beauty -- how it ravages many parts of your body on the outside in addition to doing a major number to those parts that are hidden on the inside.
There are many ways that you can spot a smoker -- aside from that cigarette dangling from their lips and the ever-present aroma of smoke. A smoker's skin is sallow, her teeth are typically yellow and there are telltale wrinkles around her mouth. But, hey, we won't not ruin all the fun by revealing the ravages here, let's get visual and down to the nitty gritty because, let's face it, if those commercials featuring that woman with the hole in her throat haven't scared you straight into smoking cessation, maybe your vanity will -- looking good has been known to be quite the motivator.
So, what do you say? Want to see if these seven unsightly side effects can serve as an incentive to get you to kick the habit, to quit smoking right here and now? These may not come as a complete shock, but sometimes it helps to look at things in good old black and white�
