Study of twins shows smoking damage
Smoking tobacco cigarettes is very harmful for your lungs, heart and could result in cancer. Tobacco is harmful for other body parts such as your skin as well. A study of twins shows smoking damage from tobacco cigarettes.
The Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio gathers twins from all over the country since 1979. The city was actually called after a twin that found the city. Every year a couple of thousand twins come up to the city to meet other twins, discuss issues and celebrate being twins. So many twins all together calls for some research.
While other researchers are interested in genetics, some researchers were actually curious about twins who smoke and don’t smoke. They went looking for twins with one smoker and one non-smoker and compared these. A total of 79 pairs of identical twins was the result.
It was up to three plastic surgeons to compare the twins: one smoker and one who smoked at least five years less than the other or had never lighted a cigarette. They detected some huge differences even with the twins whose one smoking only five years longer than the other. Not only was the skin of the ‘smoker’ more grey, the upper eyelids hung down while the lower lids sagged. Around the mouth there were clearly much more wrinkles.
How it’s possible that even eye lids react on smoking tobacco, is explained by Doctor Phill Goodman. “Oxygen in the skin gets reduced by smoking. This results in a decrease of the blood circulation which results in wrinkles and greyish skin. These wrinkles make the eye lids move as well.”
This study opens a new method in the battle to stop people from smoking. “People always hear about their health, but this is not real enough. Young people don’t worry about their health yet; they worry about their new boyfriends or the latest sneakers. Especially at this age, somebody needs to get through to them. This method might actually work.” Goodman wants to create billboards with the faces of twins to show people the difference and to show young smokers their future: one without tobacco cigarettes and one with. “I think this could worry young smokers, they are constantly thinking about their appearance and people in their twenties could also be shocked by this image. Getting closer to the big thirty, women as well as men start worrying about getting old. To see smokers with wrinkles and eye lids like this could really be a last push to make them stop smoking.”
However, as a smoker it’s not that easy to just give up smoking because you want to stay young and beautiful. After smoking for years, it sometimes feels useless. You already put your lungs, heart and skin in danger for far too long. The good thing about quitting tobacco cigarettes is that your body recovered itself. Your skin gets more colorful and pumps oxygen into your blood vessels. Your lungs slowly get rid of the black spots. It is actually not too late and the result of quitting is wonderful.
To quit smoking, you can use a lot of methods. Goodman advises his patients to take a look at electronic cigarettes. “I know a lot of people are still doubtful about e-cigarettes, but there is no reason. It can be a real good remedy in the process. You can start with replacing a couple tobacco cigarettes by electronic cigarettes. Most people can manage that. This is already a big improvement of your smoking behavior. As long as you use electronic cigarettes, you don’t inhale any tobacco. Tobacco is the substance that causes damage to your lungs, heart and skin. It makes you look old. If you can reduce the tobacco cigarettes with the help of e-cigarettes, you are almost there already.”
Goodman has seen many people who were able to stop smoking using e-cigarettes. “The nicotine is the addictive part of smoking. However, this nicotine isn’t that harmful. I would off course not recommend using it, but it doesn’t do you more harm than a cup of coffee. Electronic cigarettes contain nicotine and you can slowly adjust the level of nicotine till it’s completely gone. That seems easy, but nicotine is very addictive. It could take months and some even years, to reduce nicotine. If somebody user nicotine plasters or pills, chances are big they start smoking again. However, while using electronic cigarettes, they can continue their habit and reduce their addiction while not putting their health and skin at risk. Even if takes somebody years, they are still healthier than before they stopped smoking tobacco cigarettes. Even if they would never get rid of the nicotine.”
Goodman pleas for treating e-cigarettes as a medicine which especially can be used during the period of tobacco withdraw.