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Smoking is the one maxim in this book where there is no grey area. No weighing of pros and cons, no “in moderation”. Just one clear statement.
Everyone knows that smoking is harmful. To the lungs, to the blood vessels, to all organs. What follows here is what smoking does specifically to the skin – and why this damage is so final. Every time a heavy smoker comes to me wanting to look better, I can see from a distance that the person is a heavy smoker. Before I have taken a history, the diagnosis is often already clear. Before the first word is exchanged, the skin has already told the story. I then go through everything with the patient and do my honest best to salvage what is still possible – knowing full well how limited the options are in such cases.
Smokers almost always have a characteristic skin tone: a grey, sallow complexion that tells even those without a medical background that something is not right. Add to that enlarged pores, an uneven surface, and deeply etched wrinkles – wrinkles that are a sign of structural damage. Smokers do not only look older – smokers are older. Biologically.
Smoking promotes the formation of tissue-damaging free radicals and activates enzymes in the skin – matrix metalloproteinases – that destroy collagen. Collagen is the structural framework of the dermis. It gives the skin its support, firmness, and resilience. Smoking destroys this framework from within. As it becomes unstable, the surface loses its tension. The tablecloth – the epidermis – develops wrinkles, because the table beneath it is giving way.
The structural damage in the dermis is irreversible. No product, no procedure can repair it. That is what distinguishes this damage from many others the skin sustains over a lifetime. Wound healing in smokers is also significantly more prone to complications. What heals without complication in a non-smoker becomes a risk in heavy smokers – particularly with more extensive facial surgery.
With this fourth maxim, there is nothing to weigh up. Don’t Smoke is the only maxim in the book that comes without qualification. More on this in How to Look Better: 10 Maximen für eine schöne Haut und ein besseres Leben.