WebMD Medical News Louise Chang, MD March 19, 2007 -- Smoking
may increase wrinkles on parts of the body other than the face
-- even on areas usually covered with clothes. Cigarette smoking
has long been linked to increased facial wrinkles. A new study
shows that that may also be true of the rest of the body.
Yolanda Helfrich, MD, and colleagues studied 82 people at the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor's dermatology clinic.
Participants were 22-91 years old (average age: 56). Most were
white; 41 had a history of smoking. Helfrich's team interviewed
participants about smoking, sun exposure, sunscreen use,
tanning, and other lifestyle factors. A medical photographer
took pictures of each participant's upper inner The photos were
reviewed by three judges (two dermatology residents and one
medical student) who didn't know which participants were
smokers. The judges used a nine-point scale developed by
Helfrich's team. A rating of 0 indicated no fine wrinkling;
severe fine wrinkling yielded the maximum score Ne