Do Smoking Linked to Acne?

Smokers have been experiencing quite a rough time in some parts of the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom. In the United States, some states are banning people from even smoking in the comfort of their own home. In the United Kingdom, popular places for smokers, such as pubs and grills are no longer accepting smokers among their midst. Smokers now have to go out to the streets to smoke, and even then, sometimes, they aren’t welcome as well.

SMOKING LINKED TO ACNE

And now, more bad news for our smoking brothers and sisters. A medical journal from the United Kingdom (Journal of Dermatology) recently published a study that linked the acne with regular smoking of tobacco. The journal, which published the results of a study done in Rome, noted a significant difference between the black heads of non smokers and smokers.

In a study that involved 1,000 subjects (equal parts of male and female participants), it has been established that among the 1,000 participants, more than 40% of those who smoked had acne, compared to the 1 in 10 ratio that was found with the non-smoking subjects of the study. This staggering difference has led the researchers from Rome to tag the phenomenon as “smoker’s acne”.

The study also went deeper into the family histories of the 1,000 respondents. It turns out that the participants of the study who were already regular smokers in their teenage years were victims later on of “adult acne”. It seems that the continual exposure to the different chemical compounds in tobacco smoke, as well as the action of the chemicals inside the body has predisposed many of the smokers to a prolonged or repeat bout with acne.

ACNE VULGARIS vs ADULT ACNE

Perhaps at this point we should differentiate between the two common types of acne, so that there would be no confusion between the two. The first type of acne, which comes about most commonly in adolescents and teenagers, is what we call acne vulgaris. This is the most common variety, and usually is the most inflamed version of acne. Afflicting mostly teenagers, acne vulgaris usually heals on its own when a person reaches the age of 20.

Now, adult acne is something else. The symptoms and causes are the same, but it differs from acne vulgaris in many respects. For one, adult acne is sometimes called NI acne or non-inflammatory acne because the lesions are not that inflamed. Also, the regions on the human skin where adult acne appears are also different from the usual regions that common acne appears in.

Adult acne commonly appears in the lower quadrant of the human face, including some parts of the cheeks and especially the chin. If a person has a beard, the existence of adult acne makes it hard for that person to maintain or shave the beard because of the lesions. Also, adult acne sometimes extends to other parts of the body, like the groin and the upper chest area.

When this happens, oral antibiotics are often used to treat the outbreaks immediately. Potent antibiotics often work faster than topical treatments.