Smoking affects the body in many different areas, especially your skin. You probably have heard that it causes wrinkles, but that’s certainly not the only side effect smoking causes. The following are some ways cigarette smoke damages your skin.
1. Older
Smoking adds years to your face. Your skin, teeth, and hair will change so that when you’re thirty, you will probably look closer to forty.
2. Loose Skin
Anyone can have bags under their eyes from not getting enough sleep, but smoking can permanently leave the skin under your eyes loose.
3. Uneven Skin Tone
Some smokers have a paler skin tone, while others have uneven skin discoloration. When we age, there is a possibility our skin may be uneven, and if you smoke, this process speeds up rapidly and is a lot more common. This is because smoking denies skin of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to look healthy.
4. Deep Wrinkles and Saggy Skin
There are 4,000 chemicals that are inhaled when smoking, and they destroy the collagen and elastin found in our skin, which are fibers that promote tightness and strength. When you destroy them, skin sags and becomes weak. Smoking is also a leading cause of sagging breasts, as well as inner arms and crow’s feet.
5. Deep Lines Around Mouth
Smokers use different muscles in the lips than nonsmokers. The constant “puckering” that occurs when inhaling a cigarette causes deep wrinkles, and when you include loss of elasticity of the skin, the wrinkles are worse.
6. Age Spots
The sun can cause age spots, but smoking does an even better job of it. Age spots are dark blotches on the skin that develop over time, and they are mostly seen on the face and hands.
7. Stains
If you’ve been smoking for a long time, there’s a good chance that the skin around the area where you hold that cigarette is stained. Fortunately, these stains tend to disappear after quitting.
8. Psoriasis
Psoriasis is a condition that causes the skin to develop thick scaly red, white, or silver patches. It’s normally found on the knees, elbows, back, hands, or feet. When you smoke, you automatically increase the chance of getting this chronic condition.