Relationship between smoking and wrinkles clarified

Abstract

The fact that people who smoke develop wrinkles at an earlier age than their non-smoking counterparts seems to be due to an imbalance of extracellular matrix degrading enzymes and their respective inhibiting factors, according to an article in the Lancet (2001;357:935–6). Researchers investigating the role of ultraviolet light on the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) enzymes in buttock skin of healthy volunteers incidentally found that this enzyme was already being …