Does Smoking Cause Acne?

As I often do, I copied the thread title into google and got what you could have, too. There's more.

1. Smoking and acne - does smoking cause pimples?Smoking and acne - how cigarettes affect the skin. The jury is still out ... studies around the world that people who smoke are no more likely to break out. ...
   www.acne.org/smoking-and-acne.html - Cached - Similar -
2. Does smoking weed give you pimples? - Bluelight25 posts - 18 authors - Last post: Apr 7Smoking weed; does not give you pimples smoking weed gives you the munchies, which gives you junk food, which i heard can cause acne. ...
   www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=449277 - Cached - Similar -
   Maybe you can find enough supporting data to help your case. Are you morally bound to present both sides of the argument?

There are many websites that look at the ties between acne and smoking, for example:

About.com

Go Ask Alice

Telegraph.co.uk

There is a mixture of thoughts. Some say that it does cause acne, some say it doesn't. Some say that it merely aggravates existing acne.

Why don't you just tell him that he is going die prematurely from a smoking related death like emphysema, and lung cancer (or throat cancer or mouth cancer). Point out that he is also causing other peoples death due to secondhand smoke.

Good luck getting your friend to quit. It is a hard habit to break.

I've already told him about that stuff. He said he's gonna quit one day

That pretty much sums it up!!!

Nothing more need be said.

thanks. I think the answers or the links you provided might help building my case. I am keen on making him stop smoking.

Good luck!

Nicotine is highly addictive. Nothing will make him quit unless he himself sets his mind to it and will do whatever it takes to succeed.

hi Sinia,

show your friend this video. he'll love it.

hi langyaw, This is the best, thank you very much. We watched it together and I think it got to him. Sinia

I used to smoke 200 a day. Did not have any such problem.

Quit cold turkey 42 years back and never smoked again.

bioramani

Sinia,

A smoking related death like not breathing because you are smothering the person with a pillow.

A lung problem because you put a sharp instrument in it.

Throat or mouth problem because you shoved a lit cigar in it.

Forget about the lies. You have to tell the person that you don't want to be exposed to maloderous substances in the air. If you don't like the person's smoke make an arrangement so you and the abuser of your rights don't have to deal with a higher authority.

Jon

You know, that is the most ridiculus statement I have ever read

Guest,

Thank you. I try.

It is nice that someone recognizes it.

John Wesley Hardin killed a man for snoring too loud at a hotel. I guess he didn't mind the smoke.

I see that you have not read the other rediculous posts in here.

Jon

I have noticed that long term smokers, both sexes, tend to have coarse/grainy skin......whether is caused by Acne or long term smoking I cannot say.....but unattractive at best.....

There are scientific studies clearly proving that the skin of a corpse of a 45 years person who died of lung cancer is more prone to tear during acne removal attempts performed by the funeral home workers. So, yes, smoking can cause acne problems. I just don't have the links to those studies just yet.

I would love to see the rules the ethics committee came up for those scientific studies. I wonder what were the variables, how they controlled them, and how they determined the control subjects. If they did blind or double blind experimentation. What sample size did they use, and is it repeatable? And who formed the oversight body, and where was it published?

So, yes please, I am sure the poster of the original question would be delighted to use these studies to further his agenda. After all, it is a laudable goal.

Personally I believe a tour of a building burned by fire caused by careless smoking to be more effective than any scientific study, but hey, thats just me. The smell of a burned house pet or family member should stop his habit in the tracks.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/345/14/1064

Yusef,

I was being facetious. Of course there are no such studies. But I was trying to use the scare factor caused by the vivid images of such procedures. Just like you proposed with the burned house.

Titi-the-rabbit

Oh. And for a moment there.....

hope bloomed like a rose in Sudbury.

I would like to thank everybody that provided some good information and insight about the subject. I appreciate it. I am determined to make my friend quit but I don't think I will still be using the "acne stuff" in my quest since the studies are inconclusive. I will just focus on what is already studied and proven.

Nah, smoking actually cures acne. Once the smoker is dead, there is no longer any chance of a break out.

Any over-abundance of any toxin may cause pimples... so the short answer is yes...

The long answer is far more complicated and mostly beyond me.

The body disposes of toxins through a variety of outlets, including the skin. If you ingest too much of a toxin it will be pushed out through the most readily available 'door', if that door happens to be the skin, then pimples are a distinct possibilty... but cigarette smoke alone is not likely to be the cause of an acne outbreak, it is more likely that the cigarettes are compounding another issue which needs to be treated as equally problematic. Cigarettes are bad, but they are only one of about 40 billion toxins we encounter every day in our air, in our food, in our water... It is farcical to say that smoking a cigarette is going to kill you (or cause acne) while presuming that (for example) sitting in rush hour traffic on the highway breathing exhaust fumes and sucking on a big mac is not detrimental, or drinking beverages that are loaded with known toxins isn't going to have a negative impact. Everywhere you look in American society you find people mindlessly chowing down on poison and wondering why they don't feel good. If you really want to help your friends acne I would start with diet, not 'a diet', but rather a presumption that processed and fast foods are death in a paper wrapper and cola is candy coated poison.

I suggest that you provide your friend with the truth, the truth free from assumptions, insinuations and scare tactics, about cigarette smoke and then accept that they are going to make whatever decision they choose to make. You can't con people into taking care of themselves and you will likely find that they will lose respect for you when they discover you fed them a load of BS to get them to fall in line with your desires.

While the scare tactics may help to make him willing, rationalizations are not a great basis for helping someone to quit a wicked addiction.

Have you seen a person go through tobacco withdrawal? Do you know what he will suffer? Do you know what aids are available to help him endure and overcome that, and what you could do to help during that stress?

I suggest you inform yourself, and offer the support that would help him in withdrawal, if you can provide it, instead of trying to achieve your goals by intimidation.

Artsmith,

You said:

I suggest you inform yourself, and offer the support that would help him in withdrawal, if you can provide it, instead of trying to achieve your goals by intimidation.

See posts 11 and 19. That was me joking about intimidation and worse for getting him to stop smoking.

Sinia was not talking about intimidating anyone and is supportive of actions that provide mutual benefit.

Jon

thank you kudukdweller9, I actually printed out lots of stuff for helping in smoking cessation and gave them to my friend and I told him I will always be there as his support buddy and will walk with him anytime he needs to as part of the plan. The acne thing started as another reason for him to stop jokingly and I post it here so I can have some back up. Prior to that I have told him everything there is to know about the effects of smoking and he knew those. Well I'm glad to say that he started his "quitting" for about a week now and I'm monitoring his progress.

no it does not

I agree guest...in fact, when I was smoking, nothing else would live in my body, including the bacteria which caused acne.

That being said, I don't think the coughing up blood from cigarette smoke was a good trade for having clear skin. I am glad I found the long term strength to quit.

Make a bet with him that he cant go like 3 days without smoking. he'll feel a lot better for it. i'm still trying to give up but gambling is good, cos if he doesn't stop, you win some money d=

hope it goes well for both x

Tell him it causes Lung Cancer which is worse than acne give me a break! But I am guilty of smoking most of my life and made a New Years resolution 3 or 4 years ago that really worked stopped cold turkey!

i wouldnt mind some good tips to give up myself, without gaining weight haha

any advice?

The way I quit smoking was to disrupt the psychological set as well as the physical set. The physical is over within a couple of weeks. The pschological set will be with you forever. You must change the pschology in order to actually quit.

first...Mom was right...you become whom you hang with. If you hang with smokers, you become a smoker. If you hang with math geeks, you become a math geek. If you hang with artists, you will pick up a brush. If you hang with non-smokers, you will become a non-smoker "after your physical battle is won".

second....the insidious nature of the physical allure is that even though the major physical battle is over in a couple of weeks, there will always be cravings from time to time, likely for the rest of your life. These cravings take you in moments of weakness. It is unfair to ask anyone to be strong all the time, but strength can be applied in different ways...succumb to an alternative like fresh fruits, or snacky vegetables. A lady friend of mine munched down bushels of carrots in her persuit of a smoke free lifestyle...odd, but then, she liked carrots. Me...I must have gone through an orchard of apples. Often an oral substitute won't work...for me when it got really bad, I would just stand up and go for a little walk. Bring a paper with you and look really concerned.....

third...destroy the linkages. I kept a diary of all the times that I smoked, and what I was doing at the time. I quit drinking coffee the same time I quit smoking because a coffee without a cigarette was just too horrible to contemplate...better to lose both of them than to have one without the other. I found other ways to get my caffine fix that didn't involve a comforting hot drink. When you start drinking coffee again, it might be valuable to keep the linkage broken by getting your coffee in a different format...say, as expresso. Even now, after fifteen years, when I have a Tim Horton's double double coffee, I want to light up....an urge which I don't get from a Starbucks Latte.

The other linkage was more difficult....that of lighting a cigarette as I was thinking of a clever answer to a question from my boss. That pause while I went through the ritual of lighting a smoke was crucial to the accessing of information and decision making. I tried cleaning my glasses instead, and it really didn't have the same effect...so I got rid of my chair, moved away from my desk, and conducted all interviews with supervisors while walking. When challenged, I just would answer..."yeah, I'm restless because I just quit smoking, and I want to get to work".

Now its up to you to recognize your wants, needs, drives and desires, and manipulate them to get you into a smoke free future. It can be done...I did it. It wasn't easy. I would go to the smoke filled break room and so called "friends" would see if they could break my resolve by offering cigarettes. A difficult linkage to break since so many of my needs were tied up with socializing with my peers. "I have to give up my friends too???" No, you have to give up "smoking" with your friends. Hang with your friends in a non-smoking environment.

Thats how to do it. It ain't easy. But it has its rewards. There will be a payoff for all your trouble, and a darned good one. I promise.

well, there are some articles that say smoking causes acne..

but based on my personal experiences,

I say not!

Because i had acne when i was smoking and how i'm still smoking but i don't have acne no more.

I think acne problems start from your diet. Change what you eat and take alot of garlic. Though it smells but it has very good anti bacteria properties. A

Also, read foods that get rid of acne

Actually, as somone who is trying to quit, I would like to share that I never had acne till I STOPPED. This is quite common among quitters as well as cold symtomums that won't go away for anything from the lungs adjusting to the change, ear troble and upset stomack from the sinuses trying to clear out the toxins and draining, constipation from the same toxins throwing the digestive tract off kilter, cold and canker sores from detox to go with the very painful breakout that seems to never end, and weight gain. If you really want your friend to quit, emotionally and physically they will need a ton of support from you since they will feel and look (and therefor feel more) like poop for a good long while.

That is one reason tapering off is recommended.

There is both psychological and physical issues to deal with when changing intake of most things.