Smoking and Skin Aging

So how does smoking speed up skin damage?
It all starts with the 'free radicals' formed in your body by the exposure to tobacco smoke. Free radicals are highly unstable and powerful molecules that can cause disease and damage to cell DNA. The cells of your body start behaving erratically producing a range of responses that make your skin age faster. The most serious damage to skin is caused by:
* restricted blood flow through the capilliaries (tiny veins near the skins surface) preventing oxygen and nutrients getting to the skin
* increased production of an enzyme which breaks down the supply of collagen to the skin's structure. Collagen supply is vital to the skin's elasticity. It decreases with age but smoking cigarettes accelerates this process.
* smoking reduces the body's store of vitamin A which provides protection from skin damage
* smoking gets in the way of absorption of vitamin C - a vital antioxidant for skin protection and health
* continual puckering from drawing on a cigarette and squinting in reaction to the cigarette smoke create deeply wrinkled skin around the eyes and mouth - classic signs of 'smoker's face'

What does a smoker’s skin look like over time?
Smoking statistics will clearly tell you the risk of death and disease from your smoking habit, but in terms of what your skin will look like if you continue to smoke, this is what you might expect:
* dull appearance to the skin - loss of skin glow and vitality
* discolored skin (an ashy look on white skins)
* deeper wrinkles around the mouth and eyes
* loss of tone and elasticity more than with the normal aging process

There's no doubt you won't be able to completely reverse the damage that smoking has done. But with a good diet, skin supplements and great anti aging skin care you can do a lot to get your youthful skin back. What you will do if you quit smoking is stop the damage getting any worse. Why wait and then quit later when even more damage has been done to your skin?

When you look at your skin remember that some damage won't appear until ten to twenty years after you began to smoke. So if you haven't been smoking that long and you don't see much damage yet – don't assume it won't happen.

The important thing for your skin and your looks is to stop inflicting continued damage on yourself. If you quit smoking now you will stop your skin aging any faster than it normally would. And with proper anti aging skin care and nutrition your skin will look much better into the future than it will do if you carry on as a smoker.

So - if you do not want to quit smoking for the sake of your health, then maybe consider doing it for the sake of your looks.