Definition – What is a smoker’s leg?
In the smoker’s leg, vascular damage occurs due to smoking or due to the substances that the body absorbs over the years when smoking. This leads to circulatory disorders, also known as peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAD). A smoker’s leg typically has open skin areas that heal poorly and sometimes become infected.
It is also possible that the tissue dies off at these open areas. Peripheral arterial occlusive disease (pAVK) is a vascular disease that usually affects the legs. Calcifications develop in the blood vessels, so that initially only little blood can be pumped through them, and later sometimes no blood at all.
The parts of the body behind the constriction are no longer sufficiently supplied with blood. Smoking is one of the biggest risk factors for the development of the disease. If there is a pAVK due to smoking, it is called a smoker’s leg.
Causes of a smoker’s leg
The causes of smoker’s leg are to be found in the ingredients of cigarettes. Among them are many substances that the body cannot break down, so that they accumulate in the body over several years and thus lead to tissue damage. Thus, smoking not only damages the lungs, but also has a major impact on many other organs.
This influence is noticeable in the cardiovascular system, among other things. People who are nicotine-dependent and often reach for a cigarette repeatedly expose their bodies to stressful situations. This increases the level of stress hormones in the body, which in turn raises blood pressure.
This increased blood pressure in turn affects the blood vessel walls and causes them to age faster and thus break down earlier. In addition, the lack of oxygen caused by smoking stimulates the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells. The blood becomes thicker because of the many cells, which is why clots form more quickly in narrow places in the blood vessels. Tobacco smoke also contains many aggressive substances that enter the bloodstream when smoking and damage the vessels themselves. The vascular damage leads to circulatory disorders, which cause the typical smoker’s leg.
