Do you know what smoking does to you? Most people are aware of the connection of lung cancer and smoking. But they are not aware of the relationship of smoking to their appearance. In case you are not aware, let me tell you now that smoking can affect your looks and not just overall health. So, if you are considering quitting smoking or have quit but barely surviving allow me to present some facts to keep you motivated.
People will surely grow old. There is not one person in this world that will not grow old and develop wrinkles. So, does it mean you will not care anymore on how you look or even if you look older than your age? I hope not because everyone develops wrinkles as they age, but there are ways to slow down the process of aging. Likewise, there are ways to speed up the development of wrinkles and smoking is one of them.
What Does Smoking Do to You?
Below are some of the things that smoking does to your outward appearance or body.
Smoking Affects Your Skin
Cigarette contains nicotine and other harmful contents that deprive the skin of essential nutrients and oxygen. So, a person who smokes almost daily has a pale looking skin or uneven color. Most people who started at an early age tends to show the tell tale sign of smoking compared to those who started when they are older.
Smoking Cause Sagging Skin
Smoking contains over 4,000 chemicals. Most of these chemicals destroy elastin and collagen. Elastin and collagen are very important as they help keep the skin tight and younger looking. Smokers develop deeper wrinkles and sagging skin under the eyes much earlier than those who do not smoke.
Sagging Breast and Arms
Cigarettes do not only damage your face it also affect your figure. How? Elasticity holds the skin firm, when you lose elasticity the skin will start to droop including areas under the breast and arms. Study shows that sagging of breast and arms aggravate when you smoke a lot.
Stained Fingers
Have you noticed your fingers? Look between your fingers and you will notice a stain on your skin, the yellow color is a sign that you smoke a lot. Tobacco can stain nail, skin, and teeth which affect your appearance. When you stop smoking the stains caused by cigarette will fade in time.
Deep Lines Around Your Lips
A smoker uses the muscles around the lips more frequently than those who do not smoke. So, they develop wrinkles around the lips because of the constant workout and the loss of elasticity. Smoking actually gives you sucker punch since you not just get wrinkles around the lips but also bad breath.
Hair Loss
Hair loss is a common problem especially in men. Many people experience hair loss as they grow old, but some people lose hair faster than they are supposed to because of smoking. Research suggests that smoking can cause baldness and with people who are genetically at risk smoking increases the risk of hair loss or baldness.
Dental Problems
Smokers often have yellow teeth since smoking cigarette stains the teeth. In fact, yellow teeth are the long term of smoking along with bad breath. Smokers also increase their chance of losing teeth since nicotine can give you tartar as well.
Age Spot
Do you notice blotches on your hands and face? If you have been smoking for a long time, you have probably developed age spots. Although anyone can get age spots from staying under the sun too much, study suggests that smokers are more vulnerable to age spots.
Smoking does a lot of things to your outward appearance especially in the face. That’s why quitting smoking is a good idea when you want to look young for many more years. In my next post, I’ll talk about the benefit of quitting smoking and why you need to quit.
