World No Tobacco Day 2023: Five Terrible Ways Smoking Can Harm Your Skin

World No Tobacco Day 2023: There is usually an advertisement on how smoking is bad for your health during commercial breaks or before a movie starts in theatres, which we watch virtually daily on TV. Right, general knowledge? But many continue to smoke and use tobacco, which increases the risk of serious health problems like cancer. What most people probably aren’t aware of is that smoking not only harms one’s lungs and respiratory system, but also adversely affects one’s skin. When someone is addicted to smoking and using tobacco, their skin health also takes a hit.

World No-Tobacco Day is observed on May 31 every year. It should come as no surprise that this day is observed; its purpose is to raise awareness of the negative impacts of this behaviour and the steps that may be taken to try to stop it. We need food, not cigarettes, is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) theme for this year. The 2023 global campaign, it continued, “aims to encourage tobacco producers to adopt nutritious, sustainable crops by raising awareness of alternative crop production and marketing prospects. Additionally, it will seek to reveal the tobacco industry’s efforts to obstruct initiatives to replace tobacco farming with sustainable crop production, which worsens the world food problem.

World No Tobacco Day: What Effects Does It Have on Skin?

Consuming tobacco negatively impacts the condition of the skin and might cause other health issues. Dr. R.K. Chopra, Senior Consultant of Chest Medicine, Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune, discussed smoking’s harmful consequences on the skin in an exclusive interview with India.com. He stated, “Tobacco smoke contains numerous hazardous compounds that are poisonous to skin cells, respiratory tract cells, and almost all other organs of the human body, in addition to nicotine, a highly addictive drug. Nicotine is absorbed by the body through the skin, respiratory system, and intestinal mucosa. Keratinocytes are specialised cells that contribute to critical immunological processes and produce the skin barrier. Nicotine destroys skin blood vessels, causes cell death, and lowers blood flow in these cells.

The collagen protein in skin fibroblasts, which is crucial for skin firmness, wound healing, and also modifies the body’s immune response, is also changed by nicotine.

Smoking has numerous negative consequences on the skin and the rest of the body. The negative effects on the look of skin, including as skin ageing, skin pigmentation, alopecia, and skin cancer, may be reversed or greatly diminished by quitting smoking.

Smoking’s 5 Skin Effects

The smoking habits of 590 identical twins were highlighted in a 2017 study about smoking and attractiveness by Andrew L. Skinner of the University of Bristol in the UK. The study found that the twin who smoked more could be immediately distinguished, whereas the non-smoking sibling seemed more youthful and luminous. Smoking can therefore have a bad effect on how one looks on the face and seriously harm the health of the skin.

1. Skin-Ageing:Smoking has an impact on the collagen and elastin that maintain the skin tight and plump, causing premature skin ageing. In a review that was published in 2021, Lu Yanget al. discovered that current smokers had lower levels of circulation vitamin D than non-smokers did. The skin barrier is maintained by vitamin D, which also aids in tissue repair.
2. Wrinkles and acne:Smoking is an independent risk factor for the development of wrinkles and skin on the eyelids. The breakdown of skin collagen, which causes the skin to sag, also contributes to this.
3. Skin Pigmentation:As the number of melanocytes in the skin rises, more melanin is produced, which results in pigmentation of the skin. If left untreated for a long time, age marks and black patches may form.
4. Saggy skin:Cigarette smoke contains chemicals that accelerate trans epidermal water loss and the breakdown of collagen and elastin fibres, which causes the skin to sag and droop.
5. Pale Skin:Smokers may also have dull, uneven skin that is pale and has a diminished blood flow because of the skin’s lack of oxygen and nutrients. The natural skin becomes drained as nutrients and antioxidants are lost.

Numerous substances are released into our systems when we smoke. In the long run, they complicate health and further impact skin cells, the respiratory system, and other organs. Smoking eventually has an adverse effect on mental health in addition to physical health.