subject: How Cigarettes Cause Damage To Your Lungs [print this page] Each year in the U.S there are more than 440,000 preventable deaths related to smoking, with 50,000 of these related to second hand smoke.
Smoking cigarettes exposes your lungs to at least 49 carcinogens, such as formaldehyde and ammonia. Your lungs have natural defenses, which are being destroyed each time you take a puff on a cigarette, forcing your lungs to work harder to oxygenate the cells of the body.
Smoking causes a depletion of elastin which is what gives your lungs their flexibility. A reduction in elastin makes you more susceptible to the onset of emphysema.
Every time you inhale on a cigarette a layer of tar is coating your lungs. This can cause damage to your heart as well as your lungs. There are 160,000 deaths each year from heart problems related to smoking.
Effects of Smoking on the lungs:
Your lungs use tiny sacs called alveoli to exchange gases in your body. The surface of these alveoli is coated in a pulmonary surface that prevents the collapse of the alveoli on exhalation.
Smoking causes damage the alveoli, preventing their ability to receive oxygen from the blood. Smoking causes 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80% in women.
Lung Cancer:
Smoking is not the only cause of lung cancer, but between eighty and ninety percent of lung cancer cases are related to smoking. Other causes include:
- Second-hand smoke.
- Arsenic Asbestos.
- Chromium Radon gas - this is the biggest cause of lung cancer in non-smokers.
- Excessive exposure to radiation
How lung cancer develops:
Lung cancer presents due to the exposure to carcinogens in the air, often in the places where we live and work, resulting in lesions or tumor growth. Tumors are an uncontrolled overgrowth of cells.
These mutated cells form growths that can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). They begin to grow and cause obstructions, later pressing on other nearby organs causing extreme pain. Most lung cancers aren't found until they are in their later stages.
Treatments for lung cancer.
Treatment is totally dependent upon the type and extent of the malignancy, as well as the patient's health. Choice of treatments include surgical intervention, radiation, chemotherapy, or a combination of these choices.
There are also clinical trials of new treatments. Ask your doctor for more information about these.
