Home » Skin » Can Smoking Lead To Skin Diseaes? Yes! Here's How

Can Smoking Lead To Skin Diseaes? Yes! Here's How

The 700+ toxic germs in a cigarette don't just harm your lungs, they seriously harm your skin by causing these infections.

By: DoctorNDTV Updated: Jul 11, 2017 05:38 IST

2-Min Read

Can Smoking Lead To Skin Diseaes? Yes! Heres How

A cigarette contains more than 5,000 toxic bacterial germs: Quit smoking and prevent skin infections

HIGHLIGHTS

A cigarette contains thousands of toxic bacterial germs
Smoking allows HPV to break through your skin and cause genital warts
Acne and psoriasis can also be caused due to smoking

The list of dangerous consequences of smoking can actually be endless. With no documented benefit of smoking and more than a hundred pitfalls, you can safely cross out smoking from your list of things to do in life. Not only is it harmful for your lungs, researchers suggest that smoking can alter the look of your skin in a way to make it unrecognizable or even dead. According to a study published in the Environmental Health Perspectives, a cigarette is a 'bonanza' of unhealthy germs that if alive can mean serious infections that minute you take it in your mouth.

What are these germs?

According to the study, conducted at the University of Maryland, College Park, there can be more than 5,000 toxic and some even carcinogenic bacterial species of germs living inside a cigarette. A few such germs are E. coli, Klebsiella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that can cause infections in the uterus and the skin and even food poisoning.

Skin infections caused by smoking

Cigarette smoking can lead to genital warts, yeast infection and acne
Photo Credit: iStock

1. Yeast infections

Most commonly seen in the vagina, yeast infections cause inflammation, intense itchiness and lead to the flow of a thick, white discharge. In a study by Daling et al, smoking was found to increase the risk of acquiring yeast infections.

2. Genital Warts

Medically known as Condyloma Acuminatum, warts are are small ugly bumps on the skin that can spread throughout the body. Smokers have been found to be 4 times as likely to develop warts in the genital area as non-smokers. This can be a very painful condition.

3. Acne

The nicotine in cigarette has been found to promote inflammation in the skin, leading to acne. It can also prevent the healing of your acne because it reduces blood flow to the area.

Smoking can lead to annoying acne
Photo Credit: iStock

4. Infection through Human Papillomavirus

Promoted

Nicotine can have a toxic effect of the epithelium, which is the surface of the blood vessels and organs in the body. Thus, it can allow the HP virus to easily enter the body and then show as warts or cancer. Another way smoking leads HPV to enter our body is by weakening our immune system.

Also read: Are e-cigarettes harmful?

COMMENT

DoctorNDTV is the one stop site for all your health needs providing the most credible health information, health news and tips with expert advice on healthy living, diet plans, informative videos etc. You can get the most relevant and accurate info you need about health problems like diabetes, cancer, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, weight loss and many other lifestyle diseases. We have a panel of over 350 experts who help us develop content by giving their valuable inputs and bringing to us the latest in the world of healthcare.