Medical Questions » Smoking Questions » Question No. 1439
| Question: | Why do smokers look older? |
| Answer: | Every mouthful of cigarette smoke contains a trillion oxidants. Oxidants (otherwise known as free radicals) are bad news when it comes to keeping you looking young. Basically, early ageing - both inside and out - is inevitable if you smoke. The link between smoking and lung cancer is clear because of the damage it causes to the surface of your lungs, but oxidants damage every cell of your body - and that includes the skin, which they leave looking saggy, wrinkly and less elastic. Why? Your skin stays elastic via its collagen content, which the body needs vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant, to make. Yet with each cigarette you smoke you use up 35mg of vitamin C. You get the picture: so it' s not surprising that research has shown that smokers actually have thinner skin than non-smokers. |
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