Effects of Smoking and Alcohol on Your Skin

Although smoking is best known for causing lung cancer, this habit is also among the biggest threats to your skin. Next to sun and chemicals, tobacco is one of the major accelerators of your skin’s natural ageing process and it’s thought to be one of the fastest acting threats. Young people start showing signs of early skin aging after as little as 10 years of smoking. If you think this is a long period of time, you should keep in mind that many young people start smoking in their teen years (16-19 year olds) and are still below 30 when the first signs appear.
Smoking causes the narrowing of blood vessels throughout your body, including those that supply the outermost layers of the skin with oxygen and nutrients. Thus, your skin is slowly starved of vital oxygen and other substances, such as immunity-boosting Vitamin A. Alcohol has a similar effect by destroying the body’s supply of Vitamin A. This will lower your skin’s role as the first line of defense against bacteria and infections.


The same Vitamin A is used in the skin turnover process to help generate the new cells that replace the dead ones. The vitamin provides a temporary boost in the production of collagen and can lend the skin a more youthful appearance for a while.


Over time, the lack of oxygen and nutrients would allow the formation of harmful free radicals that slowly damage the elastic fibers and collagen, which keep the skin strong and flexible. The result is usually the appearance of premature wrinkles. It is also thought likely that the repeated pursing of lips when inhaling smoke helps build wrinkles around the mouth, while the heat of the burning cigarette tip is also damaging the skin.


The bottom line is that every person who wants to enjoy healthy skin for as long as possible should refrain from alcohol and tobacco consumption and should also take the basic steps in skin protection. There’s no reason to harm yourself with unhealthy smoking and drinking and to damage your face with premature wrinkles. It’s so simple to stay healthy.