"If you wont quit for your heart and lungs, quit for the sake of vanity," says Bank. When you smoke, you diminish the skin's ability to get the oxygen it needs. Without optimal oxygen, skin cells can't renew themselves. "It accelerates the wrinkling process by damaging the skin and impeding the repair of your skin," adds Bank. So in addition to the obvious vertical lines and wrinkles around the mouth, your skin overall will look lackluster and dull.
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Thou shalt not: use a tanning bed
"Don't do tanning beds, period, end of discussion," says Kunin, explaining that every young melanoma patient she treats has used tanning beds. Ten minutes in a tanning bed is equal to getting a full day of unprotected sun exposure -- yikes! So instead of baking on your color, Kunin recommends "applying color" by way of self-tanner or bronzer. Our readers love Jergens Natural Glow Express, $7.49 and Banana Boat Summer Color Sunless Tanning Lotion, $7.69. Need help perfecting the application process? Check out this how-to video.
We hate to get preachy on you, but if you want your skin to look great well into your 80s, you'll follow this advice, courtesy of Audrey Kunin, M.D., founder of DERMADoctor; David Bank, M.D. author of "Beautiful Skin: Every Woman's Guide to Looking Her Best at Any Age" and Olga Lorencin, owner of Kinara Skin Care Clinic in Beverly Hills, Calif. When asked what the worst possible things for our skin are, these topped their lists. So now, repeat after us, "thou shalt not" ...
