Smoking and the skin

It’s World No Tobacco Day today and that gives me the perfect reason to talk about how smoking affects the skin. You don’t need me to tell you that it’s bad for the skin but do you know why exactly?

Did you know the skin absorbs the nicotine in tobacco too? It changes the structure of the fibroblasts. Those are the cells that contain collagen and we need them to keep the skin tight and firm and to have good wound healing. Nicotine basically causes oxidative stress, all the things you hear about free radicals damaging the skin, well this is what it does! Not only this, smoking causes narrowing of the blood vessels which means vital nutrients in the blood don’t reach the skin. This leads to dullness and unhealthy skin. So what else can it do? 

Wrinkle formation – from all that puckering up. I see it around the lips and we call them smoker’s lines.

Pigmentation issues – smoking affects the pigment cells, the melanocytes and leads to discoloration and uneven complexion.

Sagging skin – smoking leads to transdermal water loss or dehydration which causes skin to sag.

Infections – the skin is there to protect us and when we smoke it affects the immunity of the cells leading to infections.

Wound healing – smoking affect how the cells heal
which is why if you smoke you must stop before a procedure!

Skin cancers and skin problems – squamous cell carcinoma is a common skin disease caused by smoking,
and psoriasis and dermatitis have been shown to be worsened by smoking.

So in short stub out that cigarette otherwise you are undoing all the other good work. I have a huge number of treatments that can help your skin get back to how it
was.

Come in and see us at Invigorate Advanced Aesthetics in Centennial, Colorado to start your Morpheus8 RF Microneedling, CO2 laser or IPL schedule.