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Effects of Smoking and Alcohol (and some other drugs) on our Skin
A smoker’s skin often looks like the skin of a person many years older, this appearance of old age is commonly attributed to several causes, notably the effect of the Nicotine and Carbon Monoxide in tobacco smoke on the circulatory system.
- Nicotine is recognised addictive substance and a Poison, it increases the rate at which you heart beats and constricts the smaller blood vessels limiting blood flow to the cells of your body/
- Carbon Monoxide is odourless, and very poisonous gas produced by burning cigarettes and inhaled into the smokers’ lungs. Because Carbon Monoxide is taken up faster that Oxygen in the lungs the blood of a tobacco smoker has less oxygen to supply the cells of their body.
The combined effect of restricted blood flow and less oxygen in the blood; “starves” the cells of the smoker’s body of the essentials necessary for cell development and re-growth – promoting an aged appearance greater than their years.
Other than exposure to sun and exposure to some other chemicals, tobacco is considered to be the greatest accelerators of your skins aging process, and is also considered by many authorities to be one of the quickest acting threats. Young people start showing signs of early skin aging after as little as 10 years of smoking.
Many long term smokers in their thirties are showing aged skin, with age lines and wrinkles well above their years.
Alcohol
Similarly to tobacco smoke and many other drugs, alcohol also impacts adversely on the blood supply to the body and is most notably associated with the destruction of Vitamin A (Retinol) a vital agent for cell formation.
Vitamin A is used in the skin to help generate the new cells that replace the dead skin cells, a deficiency of
Vitamin A can seriously impair skin cell regrowth, because as a part of the formation of skin cells Vitamin A boosts the production of Collagen and elastin.
Reduced Vitamin A seriously impacts the body’s ability to produce healthy skin.
Alcohol consumption dehydrates the body, the “hangover” from excessive consumption of alcohol is mostly caused by dehydration and is directly damaging to the skin.
Combined Effects
The lack of oxygen and nutrients arising from smoking tobacco and consuming alcohol allow the formation of harmful “free radicals” in the blood that slowly damage the elastic fibres and collagen. Collagen and elastin keep the skin strong and flexible, so the common result of their being damaged is the appearance of premature wrinkles.
Some experts also propose that the repeated pursing of lips by smokers creates wrinkles in the lips and around the mouth, while the heat of the burning cigarette tip may also be directly damaging the skin.
Skin Treatment and Care
Whilst treatments in the form of skin lotions and especially lotions enriched and formulated with Vitamins A and E; do provide some benefit – especially to those with a healthy life style, they cannot counter all the damage being done by tobacco smoke and excessive alcohol consumption.