Smoking cessation and acne

Are you interested in how smoking cessation affects skin condition – especially how are smoking cessation and acne connected? This article is bound to help you with determining the effect smoking cessation will have on your acne.

It’s wildly known that smoking is the cause of so called smoker’s acne.

The first thing you should know is that smoking cessation will stop their appearance for sure. There are big chances your smoker’s acne will disappear and won’t leave even a scar – if you stop. Thus smoking effect on inflammatory acne is undetermined – some studies have even shown that smoking decreases acne severity by deceleration of inflammatory processes in one’s body.

Smoking cessation and acne is not the only thing – you should also take into account that smoking makes skin age faster. Smoking cessation has plenty good affects on skin besides it helps with non-inflammatory (smokers) acne.

Now – some people say that smoking cessation and acne appearance are connected.

Here is what I have seen on the Internet recently: “Now that I've quit smoking, why am I getting acne like I'm a danged teenager?!”.

“As we've all learned, the act of smoking introduces all kinds of nasty pollutants into our bodies. Being the miracles of nature that they are, our bodies adjust as best they can and do whatever they can to shed the nasty chemical toxins we pour into them with every puff we take on a cigarette. Unfortunately, each cigarette we smoke retards the detoxification process that our bodies are *trying* to engage in. The net effect is an accumulation of toxins inside our bodies along with a shift in the chemical balance inside us (including our hormones.)

One day, we quit smoking. This is a Good Thing but, as we have also learned, it throws our bodies into an upheaval. Suddenly the chemical balance is thrown out of whack again while, at the same time, our bodies start the detoxification process. You've heard people tell new Quitsters to "drink lots of water to help flush out all the toxins". This is good advice and it helps a great deal. However, it's just not fast enough for you body when begins to excrete the toxins in any way it can. Sometimes the toxins are ejected through the soft tissues inside our mouths and through the pores. This causes the well-known Quitzits many Quitsters suffer from. It can also cause tremendous mouth discomfort as cold sores and canker sores erupt inside the mouth and on the lips. This coupled with the hormonal changes that happen (akin to the changes that happen during a woman's menstrual cycle, another time when she's likely to experience more acne than is typical) can lead to some pretty pimply periods. Sore throats are also quite common during this time.

There is also some evidence that there are chemical agents absorbed from cigarette smoke that inhibit the formation of cold sores which only makes their occurrence more likely once you Quit. Finally, many Quitsters suffer from Quitstipation. Since this slow downs a major toxin shedding process, this is one less avenue for the body to rid itself of the nasty chemicals it has been absorbing. If it's any consolation, smoking Quitsters aren't the only people to experience this phenomenon - recovering heroin addicts have been known to develop raging cases of acne, too”

He also wrote that it’s better to wait this effect out. Read full Smoking cessation and acne

How I’ve got rid of smoker’s acne

Connection between smoking and acne is not yet well studied. Some researches have shown that smoking lowers intensity of inflammatory processes (thus lowering acne severity), other have shown that smoking only worsens acne condition, some of them have shown nothing. Only recently scientists have found that smoker’s acne (non-inflammatory acne) are caused by smoking itself.

We asked different people to write us about how they have got rid of smoker’s acne.

Pam, 23:

“I have never had acne being a teenager. Never. I don’t know even why I took up smoking at the age of 17 – after a while I started suffering from problems with my skin. Now I am twenty-three – and I feel that things are going better. I quitted smoking (I’ve found about Allen Karr’s book on http://smokinggivingup.wordpress.com/) – and this appeared to be all I need.”

George Moshington, 234:

“As far as I remember acne have always been my main problem. I suffered from acne feeling myself complete shit – and when I started smoking, first I thought that I’m getting better. But no, it was not. After some time I observed that I have new big blemishes on my skin, that are nothing like easy to get rid of.

When I tried and went cold turkey – I have not only raise my self-respect, but also noticed some changes on my skin. I still have oily skin – but now situation gets ever better.”

We also asked dermatologist to make his statement about smoker’s acne, simple acne and effect smoking causes on skin condition. Doctor told us that from all points of view smoking is never good for skin – even if it lowers acne severity, you still have other hundred minuses and smoker’s acne (as we see now).

So it’s hard to underestimate harm smoking causes for one’s skin.

Read full How I’ve got rid of smoker’s acne

How to treat smoker’s acne

Smoker’s acne - are non-inflammatory acne, that consist mainly of breakouts called comedones, commonly referred to as whiteheads and blackheads. You can see blackheads at the top of your skin, these are blocked pores, while whiteheads occur beneath the skin surface. Here is how you can treat your smoker’s acne or any non-inflammatory acne.

Salicylic Acid

Salicylic acid is a type of beta hydroxyl acid medication known as a keratolytic. Salicylic acid works on non-inflammatory acne by addressing skin-shedding problems. It achieves this by slowing down the rate in which cells are shed in your pores, reducing the amount of dead skin cells available to combine with sebum (oil) into plugs. Although commonly found in over-the-counter (OTC) acne products, salicylic acid also comes in prescription strength for cases of acne that do not respond to OTC treatment.

Azelaic Acid

Azelaic acid is also commonly used for both non-inflammatory and inflammatory acne. Azelaic acid is a naturally made byproduct of the yeast that lives on your skin. When extracted for use in acne treatment products, azelaic acid works like salicylic acid as a keratolytic medication, correcting irregular skin-cell shedding. Azelaic has the added benefit of also killing the Proprionibacterium acnes bacteria associated with more serious acne outbreaks, as well as has the ability to help reduce inflammation.

Isotretinoin

Retinoids, such as isotretinoin, are also common prescription medications used for the treatment of non-inflammatory acne. Isotretinoin works by shrinking the sebaceous glands, resulting in less oil production. Less oil production results in less material available to clog pores. According to the New Zealand Dermatological Society, isotretinoin is given orally over the course of 16 to 30 weeks, but may be prescribed longer, depending on the seriousness of the acne.

Contraceptives

Contraceptives can also be used to treat women with chronic problems with non-inflammatory acne. Although commonly used to prevent pregnancy, the effects contraceptives have on the hormones of the body also help regulate and reduce the oil produced by the sebaceous glands. Less oil production results in fewer clogged pores.

Source: http://www.livestrong.com/article/76772-prescriptions-noninflammatory-acne/

Read full How to treat smoker’s acne

Smoking and acne

Here I will continue my research on smoking and acne connection. Is smoking a cause of acne? How does acne intensity and severity of pimples differ due to smoking, it’s intensity and type of cigarettes (low nicotine, medium, heavy)?

Can you comment on this post? I am very interested in your opinion about smoking and acne.

So now we know that smoking is really a cause of acne, it’s non-inflammatory type – called smoker’s acne. Most of the people who suffer from non-inflammatory acne are smokers, only 15-20% of those with non-inflammatory acne are never-smokers. But even one cigarette per day will probably bring you smoker’s acne after some time will pass.

What is the influence of cigarettes if we speak about inflammatory type of acne?

Different researches conducted in 80s and 90s found that smoking helps a little with inflammatory processes in our organism, speaking an easy language – your acne won’t be so “red” and their severity will be a little lower, but you still will suffer from inflammatory type of acne + it’s non-inflammatory type. So the pros of smoking here is doubtful.

Smoking intensity is not an important factor. Research workers say just how much you smoke won’t act on your acne severity. From one side, this is good – you can smoke as much as you want. From the other side, if you smoke even a little – you will suffer from smoker’s acne anyway.

Also it’s not a factor what type of cigarettes you smoke – Marlboro Red or Camel White – you’ll catch some pimples on your face anyway. Frankly speaking pros of smoking light cigarettes looks doubtful to me even not concerning acne problem.

So, let’s memorize:

- smoking is a cause of acne – it’s non-inflammatory type;
- there is no relationships between smoking intensity and severity of acne;
- type of cigarettes or tobacco you smoke has no connection to acne severity as well.

Stay health!

Read full Smoking and acne