Smoking and Your Blood Vessels – Smoking is a major risk factor for gangrene and lower limb artery blocks.

Smoking is a major risk factor for peripheral vascular disease(PVD). Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body, including the heart, blood vessels, lungs, eyes, mouth, reproductive organs, bones, bladder, and digestive organs. PVD is when plaque builds up in the arteries that carry blood to your head, organs, arms, and legs. People who have PVD have an increased risk for lower limb arterial blocks, claudication pain( pain in calf on walk-in for minimal distance), excruciating pain at night, sleepless nights due to leg pain, gangrene.
The chemicals you inhale when you smoke cause damage to your blood vessels that makes you more likely to develop atherosclerosis, or plaque buildup in the arteries.

Any amount of smoking, even occasional smoking, can cause this damage to the blood vessels. Smoking poses an even greater risk for some people, especially for women who use birth control pills and people with diabetes.

If you have other risk factors such as unhealthy blood cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and overweight or obesity, smoking raises your risk of peripheral arterial disease and gangrene even more.

Secondhand smoke is the smoke breathed out when someone smokes or the smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar, pipe, or other tobacco product. It can damage the blood vessels of people who don’t smoke in the same ways that smoking causes damage to people who do.