Devastating effects smoking addiction can have on your face: New Photo Prove

A new study has provided shocking photographic evidence of the devastating effects that addiction can have on a person’s face.

Researchers interviewed more than 70 pairs of identical twins where one smoked and the other didn’t and found that those that smokes showed considerably more signs of premature facial aging. The effect also includes differences in aging of the upper face, forehead lines or 'crow's feet' around the eyes, sagging of the upper eyelids, as well as more bags of the lower eyelids and under the eyes, wrinkling of the upper and lower lips and sagging jowls.

The twin on the right is a smoker; the twin on the left is a nonsmoker.
Note greater creases around the nose and mouth on the smoker

The twin on the left has smoked 17 years longer than the twin on the right.
Note the differences in lower lid bags and upper and lower lip wrinkles

Both these twins have smoked, but the twin on the right smoked
14 years longer than his brother

The twin on the left is a nonsmoker, while the twin on the right smoked for 29 years.
Note the differences in periorbital aging.

Overall the research found the smokers had worse scores for upper eyelid skin redundancy, lower lid bags, malar bags, nasolabial folds, upper lip wrinkles, lower lip vermillion wrinkles, and jowls.

Smoking reduces oxygen to the skin, which also decreases blood circulation, and that can result in weathered, wrinkled, older-looking skin, explains Dr. Bahman Guyuron, a plastic surgeon in Cleveland, Ohio, and the lead author of the study.

HOW DOES SMOKING AFFECT SKIN?

When you smoke, the blood vessels in your epidermis narrow. 

The decreased blood flow to your skin prevents oxygen and other nutrients from reaching the skin. 

Smoking also damages collagen and elasticity in the skin, which can accelerate wrinkles and cause sagging. 

Exposure to cigarette smoke, which causes squinting, and the act of smoking itself, which can create wrinkles around the mouth, can cause additional sagging and wrinkles related to the skin.

These effects, as well as Vitamin C depletion of the skin due to smoking, can cause a person's skin to appear dull and discolored or gray. 

Deeper-set wrinkles around the mouth and eyes also may result due to loss of elasticity. 

The face is not the only portion affected, skin on the entire body may age prematurely.

The report also warns smokers that no matter how long they’ve been addicted to the habit, stopping or cutting back now can make a big difference to all aspects of a person’s health, including skin damage to their face.