IMPACT ON HEALTH

APPEARANCE

Your natural glow are gone. Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide, which displaces the oxygen in your skin, and nicotine, which reduces blood flow, leaving skin dry and discoloured. Smoking also weakens the skin’s blood circulation and increases the likelihood of acne and other skin infections.

STOMACH / DIGESTIVE

Smoking contributes to many common disorders of the digestive system, such as heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcers, and some liver diseases. Smoking increases the risk of Crohn's disease, colon polyps, and pancreatitis, and it may increase the risk of gallstones.

LUNG

Your lungs can be very badly affected by smoking. Coughs, colds, wheezing and asthma are just the start. Smoking can cause fatal diseases such as pneumonia, emphysema and lung cancer.

EYE (BLINDNESS)

Smoking is a leading cause of blindness. If you smoke you are more likely to develop cataracts or blind spots in your vision.

GENITALS

A smoker’s sperm count is much lower than a non-smoker and smoking also reduces blood flow to the penis so that smokers are twice as likely to have problems maintaining an erection.

For Women who smoke are more likely to have vaginal infections as cigarette smoke harms healthy protective bacteria. When a woman is pregnant and smokers, the chemicals from the cigarette are passed on unfiltered through the umbilical cord causing blood vessels to shrink leaving the unborn child with a chronic shortage of oxygen throughout the pregnancy.

HEART

Smoking damages your heart and your blood circulation, increasing the risk of conditions such as coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease (damaged blood vessels) and cerebrovascular disease (damaged arteries that supply blood to your brain). In fact, smoking doubles your risk of having a heart attack, and if you smoke you have twice the risk of dying from coronary heart disease than lifetime non-smokers.

BRAIN

One way that smoking can increase your risk of a stroke is by increasing your chances of developing a brain aneurysm. This is a bulge in a blood vessel caused by a weakness in the blood vessel wall. This can rupture or burst which will lead to an extremely serious condition known as a subarachnoid haemorrhage, which is a type of stroke, and can cause extensive brain damage and death.

MOUTH AND THROAT

Smoking causes unattractive problems such as bad breath and stained teeth, and can also cause gum disease and damage your sense of taste. The most serious damage smoking causes in your mouth and throat is an increased risk of cancer in your lips, tongue, throat, voice box and gullet (oesophagus).