[Does smoking increase the degree of wrinkles on the face? The Osterbro study].

In order to illustrate whether there is a connection between smoking and the degree of wrinkles on the face, the authors investigated an age-stratified random sample of 4,485 women and 2,485 men aged 40-69 years. The degree of wrinkles lateral to the canthus of the right eye was described without the investigator being aware of the smoking habits of the individual concerned. For both sexes, the prevalence of deep wrinkles increased with increasing age and with decreasing household income but no significant association with body mass index was demonstrated. In men, a significant association was demonstrated between the cumulated cigarette consumption and the degree of deep wrinkles while this was not the case in women. No definite explanation of this difference between the sexes could be found but a difference in exposure to sunlight and use of face cream may be the reasons.