Does stopping smoking really improve your skin?

[Sammi38]

Hi all,

About to pack in the cigarettes, one of the incentives that I think will help is if knowing that stopping will make my skin look better? I’m 38 and have been smoking 20 years, luckily, I don’t have any smoking related lines, wrinkles etc... (as I always wear sunscreen, and try not to be out to much in it), but I do have somewhat of a greyish and dull complexion, which I think is due to the cigarettes. And discoulored teeth! Which isn’t great.

Has anyone found giving up has improved their skin or the way they look in general? I know the health benefits of packing up, but was interested if there were any beauty benefits to giving up as Well?

My skin looks more glowy
And I had my teeth whitened as a giving up reward

@YesQueen same here! Teeth whitening as a lil treat and my skin is definitely looking healthier as a result. Recently started running again too..i feel great.100% worth it OP.

i gave up at 40 (now 43) and honestly my complexion is SO much better. I positively glow now...

I mean this to be encouraging and motivational but I'd put money on other people being able to tell you're a smoker by looking at you. Even if you don't think so, it's usually obvious and not just down to lines and wrinkles.

I gave up after 10 years of smoking. I was only 25 so no wrinkles but I saw a big difference although it's hard to put your finger on.

Agree with @lamentations.

I gave up 15 years ago when I was 25 and it was the best thing I ever did.

Everyone who quits looks better. A nurse once said she could tell who smoked from their complexions as people walked across the car park.

You will also smell much, much better; the whiff of stale tobacco smoke hangs around in hair and clothes. As an ex-smoker, I now notice it when I walk past people.

I can always tell a smoker by their skin good luck!! x

Definitely! My brother quit smoking after 15 years and he looks the best he ever has - not just his skin, but his hair too.

Yes, yes!! It makes a huge difference. I've stopped smoking after 46 years! And my skin definitely looks better. I refuse to say I've given up as giving up implies you are depriving yourself of something good. So I just say I've stopped.

Even if you don't have lines and wrinkles now smokers usually get those vertical lines around their mouths as they age. I never see them on non-smokers.

Yes! Skin got firmer, more glow. Skin on my body improved too!

I vape now & skin still looks great. It’s the fags that wreck it.

Definitely I don't have the awful huge pores I used to have.

Smokers have duller skin, more lines and wrinkles, the skin sags earlier, perhaps a greyness or paleness to the skin and dryer hair - brillo like even.

Thankyou! Stopping is really hard, so knowing it will make a difference to my skin is a good motivator.

I read earlier that smokers lose their teeth at three times the rate of non-smokers so it's not just your skin that suffers visibly.