We all know that smoking can wreak havoc on our skin as far as wrinkles and discoloration but what about for acne? Does it cause acne? Does it make it worse? We've all heard of smoker's teeth but how about smoker's acne? Yep, indeed this is a title. Man, what will they come out with next? Smoker's ingrown toenails? Smoker's hemorrhoids? Smoker's flatulence? First they get their own smoking section and now they've got their own smoking ailments.

So why does smoking make, or cause acne to get worse.....or does it?

Researchers at the San Gallicano Dermatological Institute in Rome, Italy, suggest smoking cigarettes causes acne breakouts, specifically non-inflamed blackheads and blocked pores.

The study indicates that among adults with acne, non-smokers were more likely to suffer from inflammatory acne. Smokers, however, were much more likely to experience non-inflammatory acne breakouts. These findings point to what could be considered a new entity among smoking-related skin diseases, which researchers have dubbed "smoker's acne."

According to researchers, 42% of smokers suffered from acne, compared to 10% of non-smokers.

The number of cigarettes smoked didn't seem to have an effect on the severity of acne breakouts. But if women had experienced acne in their teen years, they were four times more likely to experience smoker's acne as an adult.

Among non-smokers who suffered from non-inflammatory acne, almost half (48.9%) were exposed to environmental factors, such as working in a steam-filled kitchen or being constantly exposed to smoke, that could have contributed to their acne.

Now, let's take a look at the flip side of that coin:

A study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology in 2006 in which trained nurses interviewed 27,083 young men over a 20 year period. The conclusion was surprising: “Active smokers showed a significantly lower prevalence of severe acne than nonsmokers.” In another study, published in 2007 in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, researchers reported that of the 594 participants studied, “In girls, smoking was significantly associated with lower prevalence of acne…No significant associations between acne and smoking variables were detected among boys.” A study published in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2001 seems to refute these findings. 896 people were examined for the study. Smokers tended to have more acne, and the more they smoked, the worse their acne presented itself. Other studies have showed no statistical difference between smokers and non-smokers in regards to acne. In short, evidence is conflicting and the medical research community needs quite a bit more data to come to a consensus.

Some evidence is showing that smoking may actually help protect against mouth sores and rosacea. And as we see in the latest studies of smoking and acne, smoking may perhaps help reduce the severity of acne. The potential positive effects of smoking are most likely from nicotine, and not from smoking itself. Nicotine by itself is not necessarily harmful. In the case of acne, the constriction of blood vessels that nicotine produces may inhibit the production of more severe forms of acne in a lucky few people. How and if this happens is still up to debate.

So to light up or not to light up? Well hell, if the thought of cancer doesn't scare you then maybe wrinkles and acne might..........at least for the vain anyways.

Until next time...

Sources/Credits:

B. Capitanio, J.L. Sinagra, M. Ottaviani, V. Bordignon, A. Amantea, M. Picardo. "‘Smoker’s acne’: a new clinical entity?" British Journal of Dermatology. 2007; 157 (5): 1070-1071.

acne.org/smoking-and-acne.html