Nicotine & skin health / nicotine & sexual health

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Nicotine & skin health / nicotine & sexual health

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Anonymous 09-27-2007, 7:51 PM
Dear THR: I wonder if you could address the effects of nicotine on male sexual health and on skin health.

A large number of websites state that nicotine can cause softer erections and even cases of impotence. Most seem to suggest that nicotine causes both (1) a reversible condition in terms of reduced blood flow to the sexual organ when nicotine is in the blood stream, and also (2) a permanent condition whereby very tiny blood vessels within the organ are progressively destroyed. While several websites attribute the latter effect to the carbon monoxide from smoking, the vast majority attribute it to nicotine use. Since I've noticed substantial differences in sexual performance when using ST vis-a-vis times when I've abstained from ST for several days, I'm concerned that I might be doing permanent damage.

If you would also address the damage to skin that is commonly attributed to nicotine, I'd appreciate it. The Mayo Smith Clinic website notes two mechanisms by which smoking damages facial skin. One, of course, is the actual smoke surrounding the face, and the pursed lips that accompany smoking. The other relates to the destruction of small blood vessels near the skin's surface via the constricting effects of nicotine; the Clinic claims this effect is probably irreversible. Would any nicotine product -- patch, cigarette, ST, etc. -- produce the latter condition?


Thank you for your time and advice.

Re: Nicotine & skin health / nicotine & sexual health

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admin 10-01-2007, 12:24 PM
There is a lot of conflation of nicotine, tobacco, and smoking in some
of the popular information out there, and some of it appears
intentionally designed to mislead people.  Smoking is terrible for you,
but tobacco (when it is not on fire) and nicotine have only minor health
effects.  There is actually very little known about the effects of
nicotine in the absence of tobacco, so most any claim about long-term
effects of nicotine, apart from tobacco, is either speculative or
completely made up -- we simply have not had a large population of
long-term nicotine users, other than tobacco users, to study.

Most any stimulant (nicotine, caffeine, decongestant pills) increases
pressure on blood vessels (as does exercise, stress, dehydration, and
other conditions), and so can damage those that are already weak.  But
there are a lot of other effects from smoking (you mention carbon
monoxide, and there is also damage to the blood vessels that is not
entirely understood).

No one in our research group has specific expertise on the effects of
tobacco on sexual function, so we can only repeat what appears in the
literature.  According to one recent review of the existing literature
We are not aware of any clear science about the effect of nicotine on
the skin.  Smoking causes lots of combustion products to circulate in
your body, many of which are damaging most anywhere they happen to land
(skin, penis, wherever), and there is little doubt that smoking damages
skin.  Nicotine itself has not been determined to be negative or
positive for the skin; both are possible.

It is certainly possible that nicotine would cause some of the capillary
damage that you have read about, but there is no solid science backing
that claim.  The effects are almost certainly small, small enough to
never have been measurable.  However, all else equal, it is better to
avoid nicotine (and coffee, and soft drinks, and trans-fats, and riding
in cars, etc.).  If you do not care whether you use it, don't!  Nicotine,
cars, and all of these are somewhat bad for you.  But if you are going
to use them because you get enough benefit to justify the cost, we
encourage you to do so in the lowest harm way that is practical (e.g.,
wear your seatbelt and do not drive under the influence; use smokeless
tobacco rather than smoking, do not eat too much junk food, etc.).