These Photos Show What Exactly Go On With The Lungs Of Tobacco Smokers

We as a whole know there’s a connection amongst smoking and asthma, yet few individuals understand the full degree of the harm that tobacco smoking can do to your lungs. Notwithstanding breathing in second-hand smoke can cause genuine harm over the long haul.

Concurring to Asthma UK, an exploration association, 82% of individuals with asthma say that tobacco smoke influences their asthma. This respiratory condition is set apart by fits in the bronchi of the lungs, causing trouble relaxing.

Not exclusively does smoking reason changeless harm to the lungs, yet it can trigger asthma indications, or even an asthma assault. Individuals who are as of now experiencing this condition are at a higher danger of setting off an assault

What the damage actually looks like

Here’s what an X-ray of a normal, healthy lung looks like (left) and one of a lung damaged by smoking (right).

lung, smoke, asthma

^{Photo: iStock}

Even a lay person can see the difference between the two images. The damage smoking does to lung tissue is very visible. Smoke contains 4 000 chemicals, including carbon monoxide. This makes the job of the lungs much harder and oxygen can’t properly circulate through the body. The chemicals in cigarette smoke irritate and inflame the airways and lungs.

These chemicals also disarm the lungs’ natural defence system. Tiny hairs in the airways, called cilia, sweep out toxins and other bacteria, but tobacco smoking prevent them from doing their job. This allows toxins and bacteria to build up.

A smoker’s lungs

Healthy lungs are light pink, while a smoker’s lungs appear dark and mottled due to inhaled tar. The texture of the two also differs, with damaged lungs being much harder and more brittle.

lung, smoke, x-ray

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of obstructive lung disease where long-term airflow is poor. Similar to smoking’s link to asthma, smoking can cause this disease. This close-up of the surface of a dissected lung shows multiple cavities filled with heavy black carbon deposits

A teacher at Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial School in Hong Kong, made this video after becoming concerned about the number of students taking up smoking. He compared two lungs (both are healthy at the beginning of the experiment) and allowed one to “breathe” clean air, while the other “smoked” 60 cigarettes. The results after this limited exposure to tobacco are quite alarming.

According to The Lung Institute in the USA, about 47% of smokers attempt to quit annually. But will quitting restore your lungs to a healthy condition?