smoker's face smoker's face smoker's face describes the characteristic changes that happen to the faces of many people who smoke. the general appearance is of accelerated ageing of the face, with a characteristic pattern of facial wrinkling and sallow coloration. a summary of a study published by the national institutes of health found that certain facial features appeared in about 46% of continuing smokers and 8% of former smokers who had smoked a full decade while those same features were absent in a control group of non-smokers.