| The Tobacco Reference Guide |
| by David Moyer, MD. |
| Chapter 11 Other health problems |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour |
| Other health problems: Wound Healing and Surgery |
| globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne) |
| Smokers have more than double the rate of complications after skin flap surgery to |
| repair facial defects, 37% versus 17%. |
| Skin and Allergy News, November 1995, p. 11 |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| Smoking delays wound healing, a problem that is especially true for smokers |
| undergoing plastic or reconstructive surgery. Skin flaps have a significantly reduced |
| chance of survival because of impaired blood flow, and in one study, smokers |
| undergoing plastic surgery had a 12.5 times greater risk of unsuccessful outcome of |
| their surgery. |
| Cigarettes, p. 51 |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| Smoking delays wound healing by at least six mechanisms: (1) a decrease of blood |
| flow, (2) carbon monoxide limits oxygen transport to the wound, (3) smoking-induced |
| catecholamines stimulate the formation of chalones, which slow the rate of |
| epithelialization, or the formation of new skin cells, (4) hydrogen cyanide in smoke |
| inhibits body chemicals from working normally to transport oxygen from cell to cell, (5) |
| nicotine reduces the formation of red blood cells, fibroblasts and macrophages, and |
| (6) smoking causes increased platelet stickiness, which increases the chance that an |
| abnormal number of clots will form at the wound site. |
| Cigarettes, pp.50-51 |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| Page 30 of 32 |
| globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne) |
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