Does smoking really make a person ugly looking?

Question

Or is that just a myth?

Answer 1

It makes you age faster. Would you consider that ugly?

Reasons to quit smoking:

1) Think about all the money you will save!! For example - in Canada a pack of smokes costs $10. If I smoke half a pack a day - thats $40 gone within a week, $160 within a month, almost $2000 in a year. sickening.

2) Your health. Find substitutes for smoking - for example when i quit i started exercising. I couldn't exercise while i was smoking because i couldn't breathe!!! TH eminute I quit smoking i noticed the difference in my swimming times RIGHT AWAY. It was motivating. And I felt much better about myself.

Generally, you just have to ask yourself if you REALLY want to smoke now or not.. sure you might enjoy it - but are you going to enjoy all the health problems that come with it 10 years down the road? Smoking also makes you age faster - are you going to want to look 10 years older than you really are?

Answer 2

WOW! what answers I've read. LOL. Everyone wants people to quit smoking (or not start) because they don't like it. There are a lot said about smoking that I don't believe.

I know a lot of smokers. Some have aged very well, some have not. I also know a lot of non-smokers who haven't aged very well either. My best friend is 60 and has smoked since she was a teenager. If I were to guess her age, I'd guess early 50s. A lot of wrinkles are caused more from skin types and genetics than environment, including whether one smokes or not.

If you choose to conduct your own survey, like was suggested, be fair and include non-smokers as well as smokers.

Final answer, in my opinion: No, smoking really does not make a person look ugly.

Answer 3

Smoking exposes skin to free radicals, which is causes a breakdown in collagen production. Collagen is what keeps skin looking plump and healthy. This can lead to a gaunt, bony face. It also dries out your skin and constricts blood vessels, which means less blood will reach the surface of the skin, causing sallowness and a lack of oxygen to skin cells. There have been studies that show it depletes vitamins, especially vitamin A, which is significant in skin health (a lot of skin treatments are based on vitamin A: Retin-A, Accutane, etc.) All this together causes more wrinkling than in nonsmokers. The constant puckering of the mouth and squinting through clouds of smoke also may cause more repetetive-motion type wrinkles. It also causes a marked increase in possibility of developing psoriasis.

Smokers also are more likely to have fat collect around their middles because it affects the endocrine system. Even though younger smokers might be slim because they're substituting cigarettes for food, try exercising when you've been smoking for ten years and you'll see how difficult it is to be a fit smoker.

Exposure to smoke causes discoloration of the skin, nails, and teeth on their surfaces as well, which is why many smokers' fingers are yellowed. The rest of their skin is affected, but to a less visible degree.

Sounds ugly, right? And that's not even factoring in the odor.

My father used to smoke, and for years before he died (of COPD-related problems---COPD is caused by smoking), people used to think he was my mom's father instead of her husband.

If you haven't started smoking, DON'T START. In spite of everything I knew, I did. It was a mistake. My sister is 8 years older than I am, and people usually think she's younger than I am (or that we're the same age). Smoking only makes you look like you're weak and don't care about yourself. I'll be honest and say that as a smoker, there are things I like about it, but they're nonsense, habit things, and mostly I'm just ashamed. More than anything, I wish I'd never started.

Answer 4

Well that depends if you think an extremely wrinkled face is ugly or not.

I have taken care of hundreds of patients from home care to hospital care to nursing homes. Every single patient that had smoked for years and years had THE most wrinkled faces I have ever seen. Deep, very pronounced wrinkles all over every single inch of their face. (The first place you usually notice it is around the mouth - especially on women) Look at an older woman who has smoked a long time and take a close look at her lips. It truly is unbelievable how much smoking affects a persons looks.

Now, I can't say that EVERY person will look like this. I'm am just going by my own experience, which besides medical care to patients also includes my own family members.

I've also taken care of family/patients who were dying of conditions directly related to smoking cigarettes. Watching someone slowly dying and gasping for air is ugly. Is there anything worse than that?

Answer 5

I think more so than physically looking ugly it brands you as being insecure and rather dumb. When I see a pretty girl smoking, its not that I think she's suddenly ugly, but wonder why she's killing her body with them. Smoking is an addiction brought on by insecurity and peer pressure, there's no other sense to it. So, to answer your question I don't think it makes you look less physically attractive but says something about the decisions you make in your life.

Answer 6

Depends what you're smoking and how much you're drinking. Studies show that marijuana slows down the human aging proccess, look it up. If you're smoking a pack of cigarettes and drinking a case of beer all the time, you're not going to look that good.

Answer 7

Yes, especially when they get into their 30s. I can always tell when a person smokes, they get those ugly wrinkles on their lips. They always smell, teeth and breath are always horrible. Smoking ages you so much!

Answer 8

Short term smoking causes yellowing of the fingers, stained teeth, bad breath and a terrible odor in a person's clothes and hair.

Long term it causes wrinkles around the mouth, wrinkles around the eyes, lung diseases, and cancer.

Unless you find any of these attractive then I would have to say, yes, smoking makes a person unattractive.

Answer 9

In a round about way...... yes. Smoking depletes your body of vital vitamins and minerals etc... which in turn causes the leathery, wrinkled look.

Answer 10

Over time, yes it does. It really just makes you age faster because it dries out the skin more rapidly.