The beauty side effects of smoking

Cut it out!
Oxygen and collagen-boosting products and salon treatments will help to optimise your skin 's oxygen and collagen levels, albeit on a temporary basis - unless you have the cash to splash out on regular trips to the beauty salon. Nivea Visage Age Reversal Intense Rejuvenating Cream, £14.99 for 40ml, contains pure Vitamin C, which can activate the skin 's own restructuring process by stimulating the collagen synthesis. We also like Cellfood, £19.99 for 30ml (0800 328 0977 or www.heavenearth.co.uk), an oxygen mineral supplement in liquid form - take eight drops three times a day.

Smoking thins the skin
'A smoker's skin is normally thinner due to poor circulation, and there are visible signs of premature ageing, with lines and wrinkles more established,' says Laser Aesthetics skin specialist Jane Marsh. In addition, a recent twins study (at St Thomas's hospital) took 25 pairs of identical twins, where one twin was a lifelong smoker and the other had never smoked. Using an ultrasound technique to gauge inner arm skin thickness, some very revealing results surfaced - the smoker's skin was a quarter thinner than that of the non-smoker's, and in a few cases there were differences of up to 40 per cent.

Cut it out!
Imedeen Time Perfection, from £37.50 for a month's supply, defends by neutralising skin-degrading free-radicals and creating a shield, thus helping to reduce the visible signs of ageing from within. Skin Wisdom Extra Care Line Minimiser, £8 for 30ml, contains Retinol (also known as Vitamin A), which helps to increase the thickness and elasticity of the epidermis. Jane Marsh also recommends salon treatments and home-use products containing glycolic which dissolves dead layers of skin and stimulates collagen and elastin.

Smoking can alter your body shape
As if maintaining an enviable figure wasn't tough enough already - smoking can create an imbalance in women's hormone levels, which can lead to changes in body shape. You may have heard the saying that smokers tend to be thinner than non-smokers. However, smoking actually affects the endocrinal system - the glands that secrete hormones - and changes body shape, increasing the waist-to-hip ratio. Therefore, despite possibly weighing less, smokers tend to be pot-bellied with spindly legs, probably due to smoking upsetting the hormone levels, thus causing smokers to store the normal amount of fat in an abnormal way, which gives rise to the 'apple' shape.

Cut it out! Finding it hard to give up? Dan Kalincevic, medical hypnotherapist at the Eden Medical Centre, has an astounding success rate and charges £110 for an hour session. Call 020 7881 5800 or www.edenmedicalcentre.com