Smoking Can Cause Acne

Researchers from the San Gallicano Dermatological Institute in Rome found that cigarettes can cause acne as well as cause dull and wrinkled skin. They found that noninflammatory acne affected eight times more smokers than nonsmokers. Most of the nonsmokers that had acne lived or worked in environments with heavy smoke. Cigarette smoke can cause skin cells, called keratinocytes, to proliferate and clog pores.

Medication for Ex-Smokers

There is a new medication that was made originally for people with acne problems that can help people that used to smoke by reducing their lung cancer risk. Ex-smokers that took the prescription retinoid isotretinoin, which also contained vitamin E, or an experimental retinoid had significant decrease in the amount of precancerous cell growth in the lungs when compared to people that took placebos.

Scientists Find Genetic Link to Smoking Addiction

Scientists have found genetic variations that make people more likely to get hooked on cigarettes and more likely to develop lung cancer. This new finding could lead to screening tests and customized treatments being developed for smokers that want to quit smoking. It also gives more insight on how genetics and lifestyle habits work together to cause cancer.

A person that smokes that inherits the genetic variations from both parents has an 80 percent greater chance of lung cancer than a smoker without the variations. The same smoker would light two extra cigarettes a day on average and have a harder time quitting than smokers that don’t have the variations.