The Effects of Smoking on the Skin

Cigarettes contain over 4,000 toxic chemicals and around 50 of these cause cancer. Some of these chemicals are: Carbon monoxide, acetone, benzene, butane, nicotine, tar, carbolic acid, collidine, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, methanol, prussic acid, pyridine, arsenic and cadmium. This list is by no means complete.

Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless highly toxic gas which is also found in the smoke from car exhausts. When cigarette smoke is inhaled, the carbon monoxide content is absorbed by the haemoglobin in the blood. The blood can absorb carbon monoxide 200 times as fast as oxygen so a great deal of the oxygen is displaced by carbon monoxide, causing the lungs to work less efficiently, reducing the amount of oxygen that the cells in the body require.  The organs including the skin are starved of life giving oxygen and slowly poisoned by the carbon monoxide.

The effect on the skin of all these chemicals is damaging but the liver also works hard to expel them from the body and therefore cannot perform its normal functions properly. The skin loses its healthy glow and takes on a yellowish-grey cast. The more cigarettes smoked, the worse the skin will look. Nicotine has an adrenaline like effect causing the blood vessels to constrict thus reducing the oxygen supply to the tissues. Smoking also delays wound healing.

Smoking also causes premature aging in two ways:

1. It uses up vitamin C in the body, about 35mg for each cigarette smoked. Vitamin C is an unstable vitamin and cannot be manufactured by the body. An important function of Vitamin C is the preservation of collagen in the skin, the protein fibres that gives skin its plump and youthful appearance. When collagen breaks down it causes premature wrinkling around the eyes and mouth. Vitamin C is also a potent antioxidant that fights free radical damage.

2. The physical act of smoking causes the smoker to squint, to prevent smoke entering the eyes, therefore exaggerating the wrinkles around the eyes. Every time a smoker inhales they pucker the lips causing wrinkles to form around the mouth.