Scare Me

Ladies, How About A Smoker's Beard?!

Smoking may give you bad breath, smelly clothing, yellow teeth -- but a beard??!! A recent study of more than 50,000 women found that those who smoked more than a pack of cigarettes a day were 50 percent more likely to have excessive facial hair than nonsmokers. The study attributed the abnormality to the affects smoking has on the balance of male and female hormones and the medical and cosmetic consequences of tobacco use
("Protons zero in on cancer treatment," Chicago Tribune, 8/16/96) http://www.ymn.org/tobacco/tns.briefs.shtml

If You Have Three Friends Who Smoke, Kiss One Goodbye.

Attention Girls: Smoking Even One Cigarette Could Kill You.

Smoking ANY number of cigarettes at or before age 16 could quadruple your chance of getting breast cancer later in life. Girls who smoke and have a weak version of a cancer-neutralizing enzyme -- which millions of American women have -- see their risk for breast cancer skyrocket. More than 55 percent of whites, 35 percent of blacks and 10 to 20 percent of Asians have the weak gene, according to a Journal of the American Medical Association study.
("Smoking linked to breast cancer," The New York Times, 11/13/96; "Focus Smokeout on teen girls," Oakland Tribune, 11/19/96.)

Smoking Really Does Stunt Your Growth!

A new study from Harvard University shows that smoking only a few cigarettes a day decreases lung growth among young people. "It was surprising that we could determine an effect of smoking on lung growth so early in the process," says Dr. Diane Gold. "Some would say that it takes many years to see an effect." While nonsmokers' lungs continue to grow between the ages of 10 and 18, lung capacity falls for 10- to 18-year-olds who smoke as few as five cigarettes a day. Reduced lung capacity means that lungs hold less air. That means less air for running, football, gymnastics, tennis, baseball -- for the rest of your life.
("Smoking stunts youths' lungs," USA Today, 9/26/96.)

Surgeon General's Warning: Cigarette Smoking May Cause Baldness

Cigarette smoking may lead to premature gray hair and baldness, according to a study by the Leigh Infirmary published in the British Medical Journal. Men and women smokers were four times as likely to grow gray hair as nonsmokers, and men who smoke are twice as likely to go bald as men who did not smoke.
("Men and women smokers go gray or bald early, according to a British study," Medical Tribune for the Internist and Cardiologist, 2/6/97.)

So You're Not A Long-term Smoker, Eh?

According to student journalists responding to an informal Tobacco News Service questionnaire during the California Statewide High School Journalism Convention in Anaheim last fall, about half of those who smoke think that they want to quit at a later date. This is similar to studies that show only five percent of high school seniors who smoke daily think they definitely will be smoking in five years. However, almost 75 percent of them are still smoking five to six years later.
(Tobacco News Service, "Student Tobacco Use: 'In' or 'Out'?", 11/96. National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1993.)

Think Two Cigarettes Won't Make You a Smoker...Think Again.

While most people don't set out to become smokers when they light up their first cigarette, 85 percent of teens who smoke two or more cigarettes completely and overcome the initial discomforts of smoking will become regular smokers. Before you take that first drag, consider how tobacco would impact your life. A pack-a-day habit costs $15-20 a week to support -- that's more than $700 a year.
("No butts about it," Ventura County Star, 6/18/97. California Department of Health Services, Tobacco Control Section.)

The Cost of Smoking

Here's what you get for your $700 investment: Shortness of breath, more colds, flu and pneumonia and twice as much phlegm as nonsmokers -- who wants that? But wait, there's more... smoking also causes bad breath, smelly clothes, loss of hair and stained teeth -- so much for a successful and active social life! You might not even notice these unpleasant effects because smoking decreases the senses of smell and taste.
("No butts about it," Ventura County Star, 6/18/97. California Department of Health Services, Tobacco Control Section. Money image is property of US Bureau of Printing and Engraving)

Smoking Causes Male Impotence

Impotence is also called penile Erectile Dysfunction, or E.D. It is the inability to get or keep an erection. This condition affects about 1 in 10 guys between 21 and 75. In as much as 75% of these cases, something PHYSICAL (not psychological) causes it. What does smoking have to do with E.D.? Smoking increases the risk of E.D. by about 50% for guys in their 30s and 40s. Other risk factors include diabetes, high cholesterol levels and drugs used to treat high blood pressure.
During an erection, a lot of blood flows, under pressure, into the penile arteries. This causes the veins used for draining to tighten up, which prevents the immediate outflow of blood. This process gets very damaged by smoking. Rapid contractions in penile tissue restrict arterial blood flow into the penis. This is a direct and immediate result of nicotine action in the brain (like from smoking). Also, the valve mechanism that normally traps blood in the penis is damaged as a result of nicotine in the blood stream.

Smoking Affects Menstrual Periods

Cigarette smoking can have adverse effects on a woman's menstrual periods, according to a report in the March, 1998 issue of the journal Epidemiology.
At the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Dr. Paige P. Hornsby and colleagues found that compared with nonsmokers, smokers experienced more days of pain before and during their periods. The study also showed that the women who smoked most reported the most days of pain. Smokers had shorter periods than nonsmokers, but they bled more heavily on the first two days. Hornsby's team asked 358 women, ages 37 to 39, to keep a menstrual diary for six months. In this group, 275 women were nonsmokers, 35 were light smokers, and 48 smoked more than half a pack of cigarettes per day.
"Biological mechanisms for the effects of smoking on menses are not clear," Hornsby and her colleagues comment. Some theories advanced by other researchers are that cigarette smoke is toxic to the ovaries, that smoking changes the way the central nervous system regulates hormones, and that smoking inhibits the production of estrogen.

SOURCE: Epidemiology (1998;9:193-198)