Why It's Important for Women to Quit. There are so many reasons why women should and would want to quit smoking. Most of them relate to the quality of a woman's life and health, and for those in their reproductive years, the health of their unborn babies as well. Obvious negative effects on appearance include bad breath, wrinkled skin, and stained fingernails. The long-term effects on health are worse.
Smoking also increases the risk of developing oral cavity diseases and lung disease.
It can contribute to bone loss and the development of osteoporosis. Besides increasing a woman's risk for developing cancer in the first place, smoking in women who have been treated for cervical cancer, doubles complications after the treatment, including gastrointestinal complications like bleeding in the bowel, rectum, and bladder. Also, smoking in women who have been treated for breast cancer seems to contribute to differences in survival rates compared to women with breast cancer who had never smoked or who were ex-smokers. In adolescents, smoking is linked to depression, contradictory to the myth that smoking makes depressed people feel better. Heavy smoking in this group also is linked to anxiety disorders and panic attacks during early adulthood.