Smoking, UV Light Break DownSkin's Collagen

Smoking, UV Light Break DownSkin's Collagen

HAMBURG, Germany--In the March 24 edition of The Lancet (357, 9260:917-21, 2001), researchers studied skin damage due to the effects of smoking and UV light. By exposing UV light on the skin of 33 smokers' and nonsmokers' buttocks (where the sun most likely had never shone), researchers noted that superficial sunlight induced more MMP-1 (proteases that degrade skin's collagen matrix) in smokers. The study's authors, led by Christine Lahmann from the Paul Gerson Unna Skin Research Center here, concluded that the "multiplicative effects of sunlight and smoking on facial aging occur by induction of MMP-1." To learn more about these results, visitwww.thelancet.com.