Because I'm a healthcare professional, I tend to notice the physical signs of sickness or disease in people that others don't see, unless they specifically know what to look for.
As such, I'm writing this post because I happened to watch from my window as one of my neighbors walked her dog the other morning. I live in a large complex and haven't met her before, and don't know anything about her. But she was attractive, had a slim body, and looked to be in about her mid-60s.
But because I've been trained to focus on certain signs, and even though she was about 50 feet away outside my window, I could tell that she was a long-term smoker. Her skin and hair gave her away. I started thinking to myself that she was probably only in her 50s, and that her smoking made her look much older then her actual age.
She had that grayish/orange-colored hue to her skin, and that dried-up, smoked-jerky wrinkling effect that can often be seen in many long-term smokers. Her hair was also thin and fragile-looking. It really detracted from her otherwise good looks.
As I continued to watch her walking her dog, I felt bad for her because I knew that she probably has a long-standing nicotine addiction that she can't kick, and because she probably doesn't realize how bad smoking cigarettes has affected her complexion.
I also felt bad because she's now around that age-stage where the serious healthcare consequences of her addiction are about to manifest themselves, and that she's probably in denial about it.
But you don't have to be a healthcare professional to see how smoking affects smokers in ways that other people can see. This video really does a good job of showing just what those signs look like. If this is what smoking does to the outside of one's body, just imagine what the inside must look like.
Source: Take A Stand Arizona
No comments:
Post a Comment