Smoking Can Severely Damage Your Skin: Here’s What Happens to Your Skin When You Smoke

Did you know smoking tobacco can be extremely bad for your skin health? Read on to know how smoking damages your skin and affects your appearance.

Tobacco smoke includes numerous hazardous compounds that are poisonous to skin cells, respiratory tract cells, and almost all other organs of the human body, in addition to nicotine, a highly addictive molecule. Nicotine is absorbed by the body through the skin, respiratory tract, and intestinal mucosa. Keratinocytes are specialised cells that build the skin barrier and have critical immunological roles. Nicotine causes apoptosis–cell death–in these cells, destroys cutaneous blood arteries, and lowers blood flow. Furthermore, nicotine affects the shape of skin fibroblasts that contain collagen protein, which is necessary for skin firmness and wound healing, as well as the body’s immunological response.

Skin Aging and Wrinkles

Smoking depletes collagen and elastin, which maintain the skin lush and firm. In a published review in 2021, Lu Yanget al discovered lower circulating Vitamin D levels in current smokers compared to non-smokers. Vitamin D aids in the maintenance of the skin barrier and tissue healing. Smoking is an independent risk factor for the formation of wrinkles, eyelid skin, and thus reducing facial attractiveness, as highlighted in the 2017 study Smoking and appearance, by Andrew L Skinner of the University of Bristol, UK, OF smoking status among 590 identical twins, and the smoker twin could be easily identified and found to be more attractive in the non-smoking twin. As a result, smoking may have a detrimental influence on facial look, and that facial appearance may reveal smoking status.

Skin tone, skin pigmentation and skin sagging

Smoking causes melanocyte production in the skin, which results in age spots and black patches. Smokers may also have dull, pale, and uneven skin as a result of decreased blood flow to the skin, which deprives it of oxygen and nutrients.

Tobacco smoke contains chemicals that cause trans epidermal water loss and degradation of collagen and elastin fibres, causing the skin to droop and sag.

Alopecia

Males who smoke 10 cigarettes or more per day are three times more likely to develop moderate to severe androgenic alopecia. And factors for hair loss are DNA damage, blood vessel constriction, free radical damage to hair loss follicles and enhanced effects of hormones and ageing.

Ways Quitting Smoking will benefit skin

Age spots and redness may decrease as early as 1 month after a person stops smoking. Quitting smoking can also help minimise the indications of ageing on the skin. ”Quitting smoking rejuvenates the skin”. A pilot project on smoking cessation conducted in Milan, Italy in Feb 2010 in 64 women, allowed researchers to evaluate the benefits on the skin by cessation of smoking by giving a clinical score to each sign of ageing (lines, vascular, elasticity, brightness, texture of the skin). The patients” biological skin age was also calculated so as to better quantify the benefits obtained by quitting smoking. An average reduction of about 13 years in the biological age was found at the end of the programme, while at the begging of the study, patients had presented with an average biological age of 9 years older than their chronological age.

After a person quits smoking, the body will restore its collagen production, leading to visible changes, including brighter and smoother skin appearance. Reversing skin damage caused by smoking is possible.

5 Best Ways To Reverse Skin Damage From Smoking

Ellipse IPL laser- use a combination of fractional and infrared laser.
Fraxel lasers for smoking skin damage- stimulates elastin and collagen formation by causing small wounds in the skin to stimulate rejuvenation.
PRP Micro is required for the treatment of smoking-related skin damage. Platelets-rich plasma (PRP) helps the skin produce elastin and collagen fibres to help repair the damaged skin due to smoking.
Chemical Peels for treating smoking skin damage- an Obagi blue chemical peel applied in layers.
Botox & Dermal fillers for treating smoking skin damage- can “fill in or relax wrinkles.

Effects on Hair

Smoking may be harmful to the health and look of one’s hair. Cigarette smoke contains hazardous compounds that can harm hair follicles and alter the natural hair growth cycle. As a result, smokers are predisposed to hair loss, thinning, and premature greying. Smoking has been linked to decreased hair density, decreased hair diameter, and a compromised hair structure overall. Tobacco smoke contains toxic chemicals that can coat hair strands, resulting in a permanent unpleasant odour.

Effects on Eyes

The eyes are not immune to smoking’s harmful effects. Tobacco use has been related to an elevated risk of a variety of eye problems and illnesses. Cigarette smoke contains compounds that can irritate and inflame the eyes, causing redness, dryness, and pain. Long-term smoking has been linked to an increased chance of getting cataracts, which are clouding of the lens in the eye and impairing vision. Smokers are also more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the major cause of visual loss in older persons. Smoking can hasten the course of AMD, resulting in more severe vision impairment.