Smoker’s Lips

Smoker’s Lips

Heard You’ve Got A Little Problem Concerning Smokers’ Lips

You might smoke a cigarette a day, maybe even two. You might even go through a whole pack in one day. Well, we’re sure you’ve heard them say, “Smoking is injurious to health!” What they’re not spelling out for you is, “Smoking is injurious to your beauty, too!” It’s a nightmare that starts out drying your skin, especially your lips and then goes on to strip them of their colour, making them appear darker. And as if that wasn’t enough, the constant puckering of your lips to grip the cigarette gives rise to fine lines over time.

Now that’s one reason to kick the butt right away. But what if you can’t? What if you don’t want to? Can your smoking lips keep your secret? Wondering how to get rid of dark lips? Well, more on that later. First, let’s get to the bottom of how and why this happens.

Effects of smoking on your body

Tobacco usage affects your entire body, from the inside and outside. On the inside, smoking can lead to severe diseases like lung cancer and oral cancer. On the outside, you are in danger of skin damage that affects your face and eyes. We’ll be elaborating more on the smokers’ lips syndrome, but did you know that using cigarettes causes staining of more than just your lips? Your teeth, fingers and fingernails also get affected. But the biggest visible change is through your lips.

Shedding light on the “smokers lips” syndrome

Did you know it takes more than 4000 chemicals to make up cigarette smoke? And most of these affect you in one way or another. For example, the chemicals in tobacco smoke are responsible for the destruction of collagen and elastin in your body. This leads to skin sagging and the emergence of deeper wrinkles.

Smokers Lip Syndrome

Smokers’ lips syndrome is used to describe the phenomenon where your lips, in particular, are affected by tobacco usage. The chemicals in the smoke lead to discolouration and wrinkling of the lips. The change in colour leads to your lips changing to a blue, black or purple hue. The wrinkles or ‘Smokers Lines’ are small vertical lines that form across your lips and in the skin between your lips and nose. These wrinkles get more pronounced over time, making the discolouration look deeper in colour.

As for the darkening of your lips or smokers’ lips, there are four reasons why this happens.

Tobacco and tar

Present in cigarettes in an abundantly large amount, these key contents stain not only your lips but also your teeth and gums. Over time, your lips will begin to appear blackish-blue.

Cigarette Heat

Your skin cells release melanin when they sense heat and UV light from the sun. Now melanin is responsible for your skin colour. The more of it you have, the darker your skin is. So when the skin cells around your lips sense heat from the cigarette, they spring into action and release melanin. Although it’s just your skin’s way of protecting your body from the heat, the excess melanin ends up making the area dark.

Capillary rupture

There are tiny capillaries present under the surface of your lips. The blood running through these capillaries is responsible for their rosy hue. Now the more you smoke, the weaker these capillaries get. With pressure from the toxins present in smoke, they ultimately give way and burst. When that happens, your rosy lips get clouded with hues of black.

Lack of oxygen

Among the 4000 chemicals that make up cigarette smoke is the potentially lethal carbon monoxide. When you inhale this gas, it interferes with your bloodstream and reduces the supply of oxygen circulating through your body. One of the outcomes is bluish-blackish lips.

How do you eliminate smokers’ lips or dark lips from smoking?

Although there are quite a few remedies detailing how to lighten lips from smoking, nothing works as effectively as quitting. A big shout-out to you if you’re trying to do so. Here’s what you can do in the meanwhile.

1. Water helps a lot. The more you drink, the more nicotine toxins get flushed out from your body. Eat those fresh fruits and veggies loaded with nutrients that lighten the skin. We know you already know! But gorging on fruits and vegetables can help compensate for all the harm smoking does to your body.
2. Speak to your doctor about Vitamin C and Vitamin E supplements. These vitamins are the answer to how to get rid of black lips from smoking, as they speed up the process of tissue renewal. In due course, you will notice your dark lips appear brighter than before.
3. Use a lip scrub. There are a number of such products available in the market today. Choose one that best suits your skin type and apply away. At least twice a week for best results.
4. There are a couple of natural remedies you may try, too. Lemon (being a natural bleaching agent) can be used for your lip-lightening treatment. You could also apply some almond oil (a natural skin lightener) over your lips before going to bed every night.

Now the thing with these treatments is that they aren’t magical formulas that can transform dark lips overnight. If you’re looking for something that works a bit faster, fortunately, there are non-surgical cosmetic procedures like Kaya Lipcraft available today for smokers’ lips treatment. Kaya Lipcraft uses three key techniques to give you luscious lips: peels to gently exfoliate and replenish lips, advanced lasers to lighten them, and lip fillers to create contour and add volume. Over a series of sessions, you will be looking at brighter lips and say bye-bye to black lips due to smoking.

Is it possible to smoke without getting dark lips?”

Since nothing works as effectively as giving up smoking, it is quite futile to find out how to smoke without getting dark lips. It is a fact that smoking will entail dark lips or black lips or what we call smokers’ lips.

No prizes for guessing the best remedy ever

Quit! Or else you’ll have to make some tough choices down the line, one of them being between beautiful lips and the habit. Perhaps this should make the problem of choice easier. Dark lips and fine lines around the mouth are not the only outcomes. The habit gradually catches up with the rest of your appearance, giving you dark circles, puffy eyes, yellow teeth, thinner hair and fine lines. But it doesn’t stop there! And over time, no amount of nudging will work. So it all comes down to your choice. It is about time to regain your original lip colour. Will you or won’t you?