Smoking may be second only to the sun in the how much damage it can do to your skin! Recent studies show that the effects of secondhand smoke on your skin are significant — possibly even more than previously thought.
Studies have shown that skin exposed to cigarette smoke for just 15 minutes showed an increase in free radical production over the next 24 hours. Free radicals are reactive molecules that are produced by normal chemical reactions in the body and attack cell structures, potentially affecting skin elasticity and firmness. So, this means that even once you’ve left the area, damage doesn’t stop just because we are not near it anymore! Since it affects the lipid barrier of the skin it may cause a tightness and dryness that you can feel, but what’s going on that you don’t even feel is worse.
Besides making your skin feel dry, the effects of smoke can result in blackheads and can increase the inflammatory response in your skin resulting in, among other things, a dramatic decrease in collagen production — this is not a good thing if what you want is youthful, radiant skin!
Obviously, if you smoke, the best thing for your skin and general health is to stop — this is not news. If you don’t smoke and are exposed to secondhand smoke, what’s your best line of defense or, better yet, offense? Antioxidants. We hear about them all the time! The most common are Vitamins A, C and E. Not only are these beneficial when taken as vitamin supplement, they also show beneficial effects when applied to the skin, protecting form free radicals. Free radicals are created by exposure to smoke, the sun, stress, etc.
One of the greatest concerns is that antioxidants are highly unstable and are challenging for chemists to stabilize within products. Exposure to air is their greatest enemy. That is why we are seeing more and more products in small and/or pump containers. Unless the company has made efforts to protect the the ingredients, the activity level of these antioxidants may be low or non-existent.
Antioxidant protection is the only way to go and is most effect when applied before exposure to the smoke!
