Look closely at their faces. Barb and Brenda are identical twins, with the same DNA, and yet they don’t look the same age.
The difference came down to one habit. Brenda (on the left in the image) smoked half a pack of cigarettes a day for at least 14 years and also spent about 14 hours a week in the sun, between eight and ten weeks a year, for three decades. Barb (on the right in the image) never touched a cigarette and was exposed to the sun for only two hours a week, seven times less than her sister.
The result is plain to see: Brenda’s skin has much deeper lines and a grayish tone. Plastic surgeon Bahman Guyuron, who led the study, spoke of “folds of loose skin” beneath her eyes and was blunt: when he sees that in a patient, he doesn’t even have to ask whether they smoke. He already knows.
The explanation is biological: tobacco reduces collagen production and thins the skin, diminishing its elasticity and accelerating aging. That’s why, among twins whose smoking habits differed by more than five years, the smokers had worse scores for under-eye bags and wrinkles on the lower lip.
If your skincare routine has ten steps but includes a cigarette, which do you think matters more?