Noticing lots of premature lines around your mouth as well as on your forehead and inner arms? Stress may be to blame, in a roundabout way. “Emotional stress causes a behavior response,” Mosier says. “We overeat, we drink, we smoke.” And smoking is culprit No. 1. Whenever you sneak a cigarette, you’re dropping a bomb on your complexion. “Smoking is one of the worst things you can do for your skin, other than excessive sun exposure,” says Dr. Debra
...moreNoticing lots of premature lines around your mouth as well as on your forehead and inner arms? Stress may be to blame, in a roundabout way. “Emotional stress causes a behavior response,” Mosier says. “We overeat, we drink, we smoke.” And smoking is culprit No. 1. Whenever you sneak a cigarette, you’re dropping a bomb on your complexion. “Smoking is one of the worst things you can do for your skin, other than excessive sun exposure,” says Dr. Debra Jaliman, dermatologist and author of Skin Rules: Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist. “You may get vertical, upper-lip lines.” The nicotine in cigarettes causes a narrowing of blood vessels in the outer layers of skin, which restricts blood flow—and thus oxygen, and other nutrients—to your skin, creating lines.
