Chapter 11 Other health problems

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Other health problems: Wound Healing and Surgery

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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

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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

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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

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Thursday, July 06, 2000

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