Reproduction

Women who smoke can find it more difficult to become pregnant. Women who smoke when pregnant increase a number of risks for the baby, including:

• premature birth
• miscarriage
• stillbirth
• low birth weight
• sudden infant death syndrome
• infant illnesses

Smoking can cause impotence in men because it damages blood vessels in the penis. It can also damage sperm and affect sperm count. Men who smoke have a lower sperm count than men who are non-smokers.

Skin

Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen that can reach the skin, which speeds up the aging process of the skin and can make it dull and gray.

Smoking prematurely ages the skin by 10-20 yearsand makes facial wrinkling, particularly around the eyes and mouth, three times more likely.

Cancer

Smoking causes around 30 percent of all cancerdeaths in the U.S. In the case of lung cancer, around 80 percent of all deaths are caused by smoking.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women; it is extremely difficult to treat.

Tobacco smoke has around 7,000 chemicals in it, and around 70 of those are directly linked to causing cancer.

As well as the lungs, smoking is also a risk factor for these types of cancer, among others:

• mouth
• larynx (voice box)
• pharynx (throat)
• esophagus (swallowing tube)
• kidney
• cervix
• liver
• bladder
• pancreas
• stomach
• colon/rectum
• myeloid leukemia

Cigars, pipe-smoking, menthol cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and other forms of tobacco all cause cancer and other health problems. There is no safe way to use tobacco.

The benefits of quitting

Quitting smoking reduces health risks. 

The chances of having a stroke reduces to half of that of a non-smoker in 2 years, and the same as a non-smoker in 5 years.

Risks for cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder drop by half within 5 years. The risk for lung cancer drops by half after 10 years.

A year after quitting smoking, the risk of a heart attack is reduced by half. After 15 years, it is the same as someone who has never smoked.

Overall, once someone stops smoking, their health will improve and their body will begin to recover.