Health & Medicine
Twin Study Shows Smoking Causes Premature Aging
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Oct 30, 2013 01:51 PM EDT
A new study shows how smoking causes premature aging.
Researchers from the Departments of Plastic Surgery and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals of Cleveland and colleagues, studied how smoking caused visible bags under the eyes and more wrinkles around the chin when looking specifically at such affects via identical twins.
According to the American Lung Association, smoking is often linked to various types of cancers, including liver, bowel, pancreas, bladder and ovarian cancer, and the affects may not just harm the smokers. Smoking can cause problems for those around them, too. For instance, secondhand smoke and even third hand smoke can increase the risk of heart disease, breathing problems, dementia, lung cancer and respiratory tract infections.
Researchers looked at 79 pairs of identical twins who were participating in the Twin Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. One person in each pair was a smoker. Researchers took photos and showed them to a panel of judges who were then asked to score each participant based on the amount of wrinkles found.
Most judges could spot which of the two was a smoker in close to 57 percent of cases by just looking at facial features.
"This study details the specifics of facial aging brought on by smoking, which primarily affects the middle and lower thirds of the face. It also demonstrates that a 5-year difference in smoking history can cause noticeable differences in facial aging in twins," researchers wrote in the journal.
"Smoking makes you look old. That's all there is to it," Dr. Elizabeth Tanzi, a dermatologist at the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery said, via Reuters. "Besides lung cancer, heart attacks and strokes, just one more good reason to stop smoking is that it's definitely making you look a lot older."
More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
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First Posted: Oct 30, 2013 01:51 PM EDT
A new study shows how smoking causes premature aging.
Researchers from the Departments of Plastic Surgery and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals of Cleveland and colleagues, studied how smoking caused visible bags under the eyes and more wrinkles around the chin when looking specifically at such affects via identical twins.
According to the American Lung Association, smoking is often linked to various types of cancers, including liver, bowel, pancreas, bladder and ovarian cancer, and the affects may not just harm the smokers. Smoking can cause problems for those around them, too. For instance, secondhand smoke and even third hand smoke can increase the risk of heart disease, breathing problems, dementia, lung cancer and respiratory tract infections.
Researchers looked at 79 pairs of identical twins who were participating in the Twin Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. One person in each pair was a smoker. Researchers took photos and showed them to a panel of judges who were then asked to score each participant based on the amount of wrinkles found.
Most judges could spot which of the two was a smoker in close to 57 percent of cases by just looking at facial features.
"This study details the specifics of facial aging brought on by smoking, which primarily affects the middle and lower thirds of the face. It also demonstrates that a 5-year difference in smoking history can cause noticeable differences in facial aging in twins," researchers wrote in the journal.
"Smoking makes you look old. That's all there is to it," Dr. Elizabeth Tanzi, a dermatologist at the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery said, via Reuters. "Besides lung cancer, heart attacks and strokes, just one more good reason to stop smoking is that it's definitely making you look a lot older."
More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone