HHS HealthBeat (July 04, 2007)

Smoking and wrinkles

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Here’s something else to worry about if you smoke. It’ll make you wrinkle faster. And pretty much all over. Actually, that’s probably the wrong word. All over, but not pretty.

At the University of Michigan, Yolanda Helfrich used photographs to examine skin from smokers and nonsmokers, from parts of the body where the sun doesn’t shine. Like your upper inner arm. That was to avoid sun wrinkles.

``The odds are that, if you’re a smoker, you’re going to have a greater degree of skin aging than a nonsmoker will.’’ (5 seconds)

And the more you smoke, the worse it gets.

``What really sorted out as the most important factor in skin aging was number of packs smoked per day.’’ (6 seconds)

The study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, was in Archives of Dermatology.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: July, 04 2007