Fact: smoking damages your skin. We all know that smoking ages the skin, this is because it breaks down collagen, causing wrinkles and damaging the elasticity of the skin. Smoking also depletes vitamin C and this has an impact on the tone of the skin. Smoker’s skins are generally identified as sallow, lacking luster, dehydrated, and the development of fine lines is visible. One of the main reasons for this is a lack of circulation to the skin. The good news is that when you quit smoking, most of the symptoms of smoking fall away and the skin, teeth, and stained fingernails all improve.
As new smoking technology evolves more and more, the youth and many non-smokers are turning to e-cigarettes or vaping as a “healthier alternative”. The big question is, is it healthier? In the same way that cigarettes damage the skin due to lack of oxygen, vaping does the same. While you are cutting out tar and burning tobacco, vape smoke also carries many chemicals that are harmful to your skin and body but can be considered less harmful. The best health choice is to not smoke at all. When it comes to skin, we did some research and here is what we found:
Does vape smoke cause acne?
Propylene glycol from e-cigarettes dries out your mouth and throat and this can dry the skin too. The result of the skin becoming dehydrated is that the body will produce excess oil to combat dryness. Overproduction of oil commonly results in pustules forming, and as they become inflamed, acne becomes visible. If the skin is already inflamed with acne, the healing process slows down, as the skin is not getting the optimal oxygen and nutrients needed.
Effects on antiaging
Vape smoke still delivers nicotine. Nicotine itself is a vasoconstrictor, reducing circulation and negatively affecting the supply of nutrients to the skin. This in turn results in premature signs of aging such as sagging and wrinkling and can also impact pigmentation on the skin.
Vape smoke without nicotine
Nicotine might seem like the bad guy here, but vape flavours are filled with other chemicals which are still toxic to the lungs. As anything that affects the lungs will impact oxygen delivery to the body, smoking vape with no nicotine would be considered the most harmless choice, but this is still not benign. The benefit of smoking vape without nicotine is not becoming addicted to vaping but is still not your safest bet.
All things considered, like any toxin introduced to our bodies vape smoke will cause some damage. The best thing for your skin is to not smoke at all.