Recovery
Quitting Smoking & Vaping
Smoking is one of the two best-evidenced accelerators of facial ageing, alongside UV. The twin studies make the effect impossible to argue with.
Also called: quit smoking skin · smokers face · vaping skin · nicotine face
Verdict — legit
Does what it claims, with evidence behind it.
Evidence grade A
Multiple randomised controlled trials, or a meta-analysis of them. As settled as this field gets.
Mechanism
Nicotine causes chronic dermal vasoconstriction; tobacco smoke upregulates matrix metalloproteinases that degrade collagen and elastin, and depletes antioxidant reserves in the skin.
Citations
- Smoking and facial wrinkling: evidence from identical twinsPlastic and Reconstructive Surgery · 2013
- Cigarette smoking and skin aging: mechanisms of collagen degradationJournal of Dermatological Science · 2007
The full read
The identical-twin studies are the cleanest natural experiment in aesthetic dermatology: same genome, different smoking history, visibly different faces — deeper nasolabial folds, more periorbital wrinkling, worse jowling, greyer tone. It also impairs wound healing, which is why surgeons require cessation before facial procedures. Nicotine-only vaping removes the combustion products but keeps the vasoconstriction, so it is better and not neutral. Recovery is partial rather than complete, and it begins within weeks as perfusion normalises. Alongside `daily-spf` and `sleep-optimization`, this is one of the three interventions that outrank everything you can buy.
