7 Beauty Reasons To Stop Smoking

1. It Really Ruins Your Smile

If you've smoked at all or just seen smokers around, you're probably aware of the ugly yellow stains smokers get on their teeth. What if we told you that these stains are the least of your worries if you're a smoker? What's worse is that smoking can dramatically increase your risk of periodontitis, which is the leading cause of tooth loss in adults. And if you try to replace your teeth, your dental implants are much more likely to fail if you're a smoker.

2. Thinner Hair That's Prematurely Grey

Smokers tend to have more brittle hair that breaks frequently. They may have a hard time growing long hair, and their hair tends to be duller than people who are non-smokers. They also lose more hair and are more likely to go bald. This is because smoking impairs your blood's ability to carry oxygen and nutrients through your body. This leads to nutrient-starved hair follicles that eventually die under the stress.

3. It Affects Your Beauty Sleep

Let's establish this right now: beauty sleep is no myth. If you don't get sleep, you will age prematurely. Smokers are 4 times more likely to suffer sleep disturbances, due to nicotine withdrawal during the night.

4. Smoking Reduces Collagen

Collagen is familiar to older readers as the original lip injection material, but it's actually a vital component of your skin. Along with elastin, it gives your skin its elasticity and bounce back. Smoking reduces your skin's ability to produce collagen, and without it, you suffer dozens of cosmetic problems including saggy skin.

5. Premature Wrinkles

Combine the lack of sleep and loss of collagen, and you're likely to end up with many more wrinkles at a younger age, as well as bags under your eyes.

6. Increased Breast Sagging

Any loss of collagen and elastin will affect your bust. Along with having a larger breast size and going through pregnancy, smoking increases the amount of breast sagging.

7. Plastic Surgery Complications

If you are unhappy with the effects of smoking on your appearance, you should think carefully about getting plastic surgery to correct it. Smokers are about four times more likely to have plastic surgery complications. Their risk is increased most for tissue necrosis, in which large amounts of skin, fat, or muscle that have been moved just dies.

It's Never Too Late to Quit

Many people don't quit smoking because they think it's already too late, however that's not true. We don't know how long it takes to see beauty improvement after you quit smoking, but other risks, such as heart damage, take only months to show improvement after you quit smoking. That means that if you make a New Year's resolution to quit, and stick to it,you may have brighter skin, more lustrous hair and healthier teeth by Spring.

Photo Credit: RubioBuitrago via photopin cc

Dr. Matthew B. Candelaria (PhD, U of Kansas 2006) is a longtime student of aesthetics. He has more than six years' experience writing about plastic surgery, dentistry, fashion, and beauty. Growing up in a smoking household, he has also witnessed firsthand smoking's many negative effects.

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