Women's health seriously affected by smoking Smoking can make your nipples fall off - this is the astonishing claim by Dr Anthony Youn, one of American's top plastic surgeons. The practitioner from Detroit, Michigan, was quick to point out this applied to patients who underwent breast lifts to perk up their chests.
He said the nicotine and carbon monoxide taken in during smoking can disrupt blood flow to different parts of the body and so disrupts the healing process following surgery.
The toxins can act as a 'virtual tourniquet' and effectively kill a body part by stopping blood from reaching it.
Speaking to CNN Health, Dr Youn said: 'I cringe every time I see a patient for a breast lift who is a smoker.
'I’m deathly afraid that despite my warnings, she will smoke before or after surgery and cause her nipples to turn black and fall off.
'I've seen it before,' he claimed.
Dr Youn said he treated one female smoker whose nipples had turned purple after smoking caused the tiny veins in the breast to fail, leading to a backup of old blood.
Left untreated they could have turned black and fallen off.
He had to resort to using leeches over several days to suck out the old blood and so restore the woman's nipples to a healthy pink.
He told CNN he now made sure all of his patients understood the dire outcomes that could result from smoking following a cosmetic operation.
'If you are having a breast lift or reduction and you smoke, your nipples could turn black and fall off.
'If you are having a tummy tuck and you smoke, you may get an infection resulting in a big gross open wound that will take three months to heal.
'If you are having a facelift and you smoke, the skin of your cheek could turn black and slough off, leaving exposed fat.'
Those applying for cosmetic surgery such as tummy tucks or breast surgery on the NHS must be non-smokers.
According to the NHS: Research has shown smokers have more
problems with wound healing than non-smokers.
'This means they are likely to have to stay in hospital for longer and may require treatment for infections.
'Procedures are more likely to be successful in those who do not smoke.'