Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body.

Cancer

Nearly everyone knows that smoking can cause lung cancer, but few people realize it is also linked to higher risk for many other kinds of cancer too, including cancer of the mouth, nose, sinuses, voice box (larynx), throat (pharynx), esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, stomach, and acute myeloid leukemia.

 Lung diseases

Smoking greatly increases your risk of getting long-term lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis. These diseases make it harder to breathe, and are grouped together under the name chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD causes

chronic illness and disability, and gets worse over time -- sometimes becoming fatal.

Emphysema and chronic bronchitis can be found in people as young as 40, but are usually found later in life, when the symptoms get much worse. Long-term smokers have the highest risk of developing severe COPD. 

Pneumonia is also included in the list of diseases known to be caused by smoking.

Heart attacks, strokes, and blood vessel diseases.

Smokers are twice as likely to die from heart attacks as are non-smokers. Smoking is a major risk factor for peripheral vascular disease, a narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood to the leg and arm muscles. Smoking also affects the walls of the vessels that carry blood to the brain (carotid arteries), which can cause strokes.

Smoking can cause abdominal aortic aneurysm, in which the walls of the body's main artery weaken and separate, often causing sudden death.

And men who smoke are more likely to develop erectile dysfunction (impotence) because of blood vessel disease.

Blindness and other problems.

Smoking causes an increased risk of macular degeneration, one of the most common causes of blindness in older people. It promotes cataracts, which cloud the lens of the eye.

It also causes premature wrinkling of the skin, bad breath, gum disease and tooth loss, bad-smelling clothes and hair, and yellow fingernails.

Special risks to women and babies.

Women have some unique risks linked to smoking. Women over 35 who smoke and use birth control pills have a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and blood clots of the legs.

Women who smoke are more likely to miscarry (lose the baby) or have a lower birthweight baby. And low birth-weight babies are more likely to die, or have learning and physical problems. 

Years of life lost due to smoking

- Adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years of life because of smoking.

- And given the diseases that smoking can cause, it can steal your quality of life long before you die.

- Smoking-related illness can limit your activities by making it harder to breathe, get around, work, or play.

FAMILY SAFETY: 

Smoking is actually WORSE for families who are exposed to a smoker. Mothers have a 20-30% higher chance of suffering a stroke or heart attack. For the good of the family, they will all work to help stop smoking.

Victoria's Kill Smoking Program also involves families who benefit from quitting smoking. Let us help the smoker quit and bring better health to your family.

It all depends on your choice!

Call 028-910- 4545 to Kill Smoking today! Dr. Huong, our respected lung doctor, is waiting to help you.