Smoking Through The Ages to Cosmetic Surgery

Posted by Sophia Wright on 30 June 2015

Smoking and everything that it represents has come a very long way. The first rolling cigarette machine was introduced by James Bonsack in 1883, during a contest sponsored by a tobacco company named Allen and Ginter. The company promised 75,000 dollars to the first person that invented a fast cigarette rolling machine.

Smoking has always been known to be a health risk since the 1800s, however for reasons of financial gain, the health risks were muted until the 1950s and 1960s, after a series of unsuccessful law suits. In the 1950s and 1960s smoking was seen as cool and quite the grown up thing to do. Children emulated adults, feeling mature and powerful - and some took up smoking as young as nine years old. Advertisements sent very different messages out to the public to obviously gain customers. One advertisement targeted women, encouraging them to purchase cigarettes to stay slim. “You will avoid over indulgence in the things that cause excess weight and maintain a graceful form”.

Today, just about everyone knows that smoking is anything but a positive habit. Aside from yellow teeth and constant bad breath issues, it is a massive risk to your health and a can cut your life expectancy dramatically.

Smoking and cosmetic surgery are two things that you should never mix. Cosmetic surgeons now advise that you completely stop smoking for at least six weeks prior to your procedure date. Why? Smoking introduces carbon monoxide into your system, which steals oxygen from the tissues, as well as nicotine, which crimps down on the blood vessels.

There are many side effects, including longer healing times, worsened scars and more complications in patients who smoke. If you make the decision to go ahead and quit, make sure you use the cold turkey method. Using patches or gum sounds great, but you still have the effects of the nicotine from these products, therefore you will be no further forward. If you do smoke you are putting yourself at risk, depriving your tissue of oxygen and at greater risk of more complications.

Everything in life is seen from your own prospective and I have learned that if you can turn a positive into a negative, you can only live a happier existence. Stopping your smoking habit in order for to go ahead with a cosmetic procedure is like purchasing not only better version of yourself physically, but more importantly a healthier life choice.