On packs of cigarettes, visual information about the diseases that tobacco smoking leads to is vividly presented. These include atherosclerosis obliterans and thromboangiitis obliterans of the lower extremities. The severe form of these pathologies leads to amputation of the legs.
Providing visual information about how nicotine works on the body is considered to be the most effective method of smoking cessation. It is easier and faster for a person to remember such information, the more vivid and frightening in nature. Therefore, the cigarette packs show very impressive photographs of the diseases of heavy smokers.
Why exactly the leg is depicted
The amputated leg is the clearest illustrated example. The lower limbs are an organ of locomotion, and a person is afraid of losing them. Subconsciously, he values his legs more than his hands. It seems that it is not so scary to be left without one hand, when all actions can be learned to perform with the other hand.
Meanwhile, walking on one leg is possible only with assistance or in a wheelchair. Leg amputation irrevocably leads to disability. This disease does not take life, but makes it very painful. A smoker must understand that he is destined for the fate of a legless invalid, with a sad prospect.
How smoking leads to amputation
When you smoke, nicotine enters the body. This toxin enters the bloodstream through the lungs, when cigarette smoke is inhaled, and then spreads to all organs and tissues. The walls of blood vessels under the influence of nicotine lose their elasticity, which further leads to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques. The plaque narrows the vessel lumen and obstructs blood flow.
Under the influence of nicotine, the blood thickens, the prothrombin index rises, and the blood flow through the vessels slows down. The vasoconstriction due to sclerotic plaques further impairs the blood supply. First, the smoker develops intermittent claudication, then the lower extremities turn pale and cold.
Each serving of nicotine aggravates the process. Gradually, the nutrition of the legs, which comes with the bloodstream, deteriorates. In this case, the pulse in the leg veins slows down, sensitivity is dulled.
In the absence of treatment and continued smoking, the blood flow in the legs stops completely, the pulse in the leg arteries disappears and metabolic processes at the cellular level stop. Necrosis soon develops. Since the protective reactions to external stimuli no longer act, infectious diseases, including gangrene, very quickly join.
Now treatment with pharmacological drugs is meaningless, necrosis tissue can no longer be healed. To save the life of a smoker and prevent sepsis, the leg must be amputated.
The amputated leg on a pack of cigarettes shows what fate awaits everyone who does not quit smoking.
