By Pretty bad, according to 42-year-old freelance journalist Anna Magee. She was guest-editing a magazine called Expert Beauty when a surgeon named Charles Nduka commissioned a piece on smoking. He put Magee in touch with Auriole Prince, a forensic artist who creates digital images of what people will look like over time based on their lifestyles. While Magee herself has noticed small signs of aging and has received cheek fillers and Botox injections, she wondered what she’d look like 10 years from now given different lifestyle factors.
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Prince created three projected images of Magee showing her face one decade from now after smoking a pack a day, drinking two glasses of wine a day, and indulging in sugar, cakes, junk food and refined carbs. Magee posted them on her blog. The results are jarring, but she insists her project was not merely a scare tactic.
“My hope is simply that people will see what a huge difference lifestyle can make to the way you look,’ Magee told us. “Warnings about lung cancer and heart disease, though real, are not as confronting and immediate as such images, and if anyone out there is as vain as I am, something like this, I imagine, would be more powerful at prompting a bit of a lifestyle rethink than any stats or docs' warnings. I am a health writer and really loathe wrist-slapping stories so am always looking for surprising and novel angles and ways of reporting health.”
Magee after 10 years of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day
With that in mind, here are the before-and-after photos of what Magee will look like 10 years from now with unhealthy lifestyle choices. The photo above shows how the writer will look at age 52 if she smoked a pack of cigarettes a day over an entire decade. A survey of over 1,000 Yahoo! users found that only 28% of smokers admit to being addicted and dependent on cigarettes with 72% claiming “I choose when I smoke and can go without at any time.”
But as these images show, long-term smoking can cause tooth damage, deep wrinkles, dark under-eye circles, and sagging brow, eyelids, and cheeks. Dental surgeon Dr. Simon Darfoor told Magee: ”Smoking also leads to gum disease and tooth loss with 42% of smokers aged over 60 having none of their own teeth.” In the Yahoo! survey, 41% of the people ages 18-34 said they only smoke in a social setting, but if you want to avoid these nasty signs of aging, every cigarette may count. Fifty-six percent of people ages 18-34 said they smoke when drinking—a double whammy. Let’s see how Magee would look after a decade of drinking...
Magee after 10 years of drinking two large glasses of wine every night
Blood vessels enlarge to cause permanent flushing and redness and thread veins may be put on display, Magee's sources report. Skin will be dehydrated and lack collagen and elastin so you’ll have deeper crow’s feet and forehead lines.
Magee after 10 years of scarfing down carbs and junk food
According to acclaimed dermatologist Dr. Perricone, a diet high in sugar and high glycaemic carbohydrates can lead to thick skin that wrinkles and sags, a waxy bloated face, and lots of pimples. On Magee’s blog, the doctor explains in further detail why you should refrain from consuming lots of starches, desserts, and soft drinks.
Magee after 10 years without additional drinking, smoking, or junk food intake
Oh her blog, Magee admits: “Although I am often the delivery girl for many a lung cancer or heart disease warning in print, there has been nothing more powerful than this excursion into the future of my face to drive home the effect of my lifestyle on my face. Since seeing the images I have thanked God repeatedly that I gave up smoking 12 years ago, virtually given up sugar altogether and cut back dramatically on my drinking even managing one complete night out on mineral water in a wine glass – no one even noticed.”
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All photos by: annamagee.wordpress.com
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