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Albert S. Reece, MBBS, MD, FRCS(Ed),  FRCS(Glas), FRACGP

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While it is not unusual for popular broadsheet magazines to publish a series of photographs of patients addicted to various substances to demonstrate an obvious rapid aging of the face, the possibility that addiction itself may actually age patients either dermatologically or more generally has not been explored by the methods of modern science. The physical features of interest in such photographs have not been enumerated but might include weight loss; skin thinning, wrinkling, and ulceration; dyed or gray hair; advanced dental decay; and a generally aged and often depressed appearance. These features are all signs of age-related change.¹

Indeed, to my knowledge, the subject of graying hair in addiction has been considered on only 1 occasion in either the addiction or dermatologic medical literature, and this was in a classic article² that suggested an absence of association. However, no data were . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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