Seattle plastic surgeon remembers when the Surgeon General came out with the bad news about smoking.
I may be dating myself but I really do remember the day 50 years ago when the Surgeon General reported the strong link between smoking and lung cancer in men. That was the day I lost my job as my father’s pipe packer. It was my job to fill his pipe with delicious smelling pipe tobacco from a little pouch and then compress the tobacco with my little thumb until it was just right. But from that day on, I was out of a job because my father quit cold turkey, giving up his pipe, his cigars and his cigarettes. I was sooooooo bummed.
That was a long time ago and now we know that smoking does lots of nasty things in addition to causing cancer and stinking up the room. Smoking also causes premature aging of the skin. This was really driven home a couple of months ago in an article showcasing identical twins with different smoking habits in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal. Here a few examples and you can see more on this link to the report.
The twin on the left smoked 17 years longer than the twin on the right.
The twin on the right smoked 14 years longer than the twin on the left.
The twin on the left is a non-smoker. The twin on the right smoked for 29 years.
A picture is worth much more than a thousand words or cigarettes, don’t you agree?
Thanks for reading and spread the word. Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder
The post It’s been 50 years since the Surgeon General told us smoking was a bad idea. appeared first on Dr. Lisa Sowder, Seattle Plastic Surgeon.