|
NightWindWhisper -> RE: "Study: Smoking ages all skin, not just face" (3/25/2007 7:41:22 PM)
|
It's quite true. I was once astonished when caring for a patient who was 102 years old in an ICU. I asked her if she had ever smoked and she said no that she did not like smoke and never had. The skin of her body was very much what I would have expected of a 35 year old woman. Yet I have seen many women in their thirties and forties with skin that apperead to be very aged, discolored and wrinkled. Smoking not only causes changes in coloration, but also suppleness.
In many states such as Vermont (hint, hint) any resident can contact their local hospital and get a supply of nicotine replacement patches (nrp's), or nicorette gum, (regardless of income) and be referred to a support group. This combination can result in as much as 25 out of 100 being smoke free after a year. Ninety percent of all smokers WILL quit eventually, most too late to do much good. Of the remaining ten percent it is usually evident that quitting will do no good. Ironically as they die, most often of COPD, they are in effect, forced to quit (though they will get nrp's) because eventually the entire hospital campus becomes no smoking and they are unable to leave. The key is the combination of nr's and a support group.
|
|
|
|
