Smoking is a habit some young people pick up in order to appear cool and mature. However, these young men and women (particularly after many years of smoking, when they are no longer so young) might find that they have achieved too much of a good thing, managing to look unflatteringly older than their real age. When this quick aging has become very pronounced and visible, it is known in common parlance as “smoker’s face,” a term supposedly used by some doctors also. 
Smoking operates in several ways to make you look older. Firstly, the chemicals constrict your blood vessels, particularly the capillaries close to the surface of your skin. Not only does this lead to hypertension, but it also starves your skin cells of blood and oxygen. The production of a certain enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase is increased, which leads to a faster breakdown of the collagen fibers supporting your skin cells, causing your skin to lose its firmness and elasticity earlier.
Heavy smoking also inhibits your body’s ability to protect itself from free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive, free-floating molecules that can easily bind to your skin cells and set of chain reactions that are not just limited to one or a few cells. They are linked to both aging and cancer. The chemicals in cigarettes make it hard for your body to absorb protective antioxidants in your diet, thus leaving you “open” to free radicals in your environment. From all these factors, you can end up looking several years older than people your exact age who do not smoke.
Of course, let us not forget the aging effects of smoking that go deeper than your skin. Smoking, of course, blackens and stiffens your lungs, which makes it harder to do sustained, strenuous exercise. The resulting loss of energy and vitality can also make you look and seem older.
People with a heavy, frequent exposure to second-hand smoke may also find themselves in a similar predicament. They, too, may start to age at an abnormally rapid rate. This is just one of the many negative effects of tobacco use that cigarette smokers “share” with those around them. Smokers are advised to consider the effect of their habits upon those they live with.
Also, be reminded that the damage of smoking cannot be measured by examinations of your current stake. You may believe you have escaped the worst of the possible damage –particularly if you have quit– but the buildup of chemicals in your body may lead to other types of damage cropping up later in life. Still, quitting is definitely worthwhile. Just make sure you also accompany quitting with other measures to stay healthy. Anti-aging products such as skin cream may also help your skin to recover from the damage done to it from years of smoking.
You may take up smoking partly because it looks glamorous, or because it keeps your appetite down. However, it ultimately damages you both inside and out, and only some of this damage is reversible. Quitting is great, but it is better not to have started at all.
Bibliography:
“Smoking and skin aging.” Simply Anti Aging. [No date.] Lifestyle Theme by Brian Gardner. 03 May 2010. <http://www.simplyantiaging.com/820/smoking-and-skin-aging>.
Tanner, Lindsey. “Bad habits can age you by 12 years, study suggests.” Yahoo!Health. 26 Apr 2010. Yahoo! Inc. 01 May 2010. <http://health.yahoo.com/news/ap/us_med_bad_habits_survival.html>.
Udesky, Laurie. “Smoker’s Face.” Ahealthyme.com. 11 Jun 2009. Consumer Health Interactive. 03 May 2010. <http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/smokersface>.
With all the info and proof that is available against smoking; why will anyone risk their life and the life of those around him or her.