Smoking and Your Skin's Health

What do cigarettes do to your looks if you're a smoker? You're about to find out!

Certainly everyone knows all of the medical risks of smoking, but it's effects on the skin are not often talked about.

There are many chemicals in cigarette smoke that affect the skin's resilience including ammonia, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, lead, mercury, nicotine and tar. (Sounds delicious, right?!) This dangerous cocktail of chemicals reduces blood flow and the circulation or oxygen, and breaks down the skin's collagen and elastin. Skin becomes drier and more fragile, and poor wound healing is common. Signs normally associated with aging including discoloration, aging, and wrinkles as a result. The physical actions of smoking also have an effect. Smokers purse their lips to inhale and squint to prevent smoke from getting into their eyes. This results in crow's feet and deep lines around the lips. The combination is instantly recognizable to many esthetician as "smokers face."

Knowing all of this is you're a smoker, I encourage you to take the right steps to stop smoking for your internal health, and external.

#smoking #skincare