How alcohol affects your appearance

On your initial glance in the mirror, the morning after, chances are the reflection struggling to look back at you is not the same one you recognise from the night before. Over indulging on alcohol can affect your physical appearance the next day and in the long term. 

We'll say it fast to be kind, but alcohol is fattening. There are around 125 calories in a medium-sized (175ml) glass of wine; 500+ in a bottle.  A vodka and coke or gin and tonic is 120 calories, and you don't even want to think about the cocktails. A few drinks are often the equivalent of a few bars of chocolate.

Unfortunately it's not just your waistline you need to worry about. Alcohol effects your sleep and does your skin few favours. So could regularly going over the recommended 2-3 units daily guidelines for women (3-4 for men) really be turning us into a nation of old hags?

Mirror, mirror...

Anyone who has suffered a hangover will know that mirrors are unforgiving things on a morning after the night before. Your skin looks pale, grey and tired. Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists explains: “Alcohol dehydrates your body generally, including the skin, which is your body’s largest organ. This happens every time you drink.

“Alcohol is also thought to deprive the skin of certain vital vitamins and nutrients,” she adds. At least women have the option of make-up to hide the hangover tell-tale signs.

But that’s only for starters. Drinking more than you should over time can have other, much more permanent, detrimental effects on your skin. Rosacea, a skin disorder that starts with a tendency to blush and flush easily and can eventually lead to facial disfigurement, is linked to alcohol.

“One of the effects of alcohol is to dilate the small blood vessels in the skin, which can make the skin appear redder,” says Goad. “The central areas of the face can become studded with small red bumps and pus spots, which come and go in crops. Small dilated blood vessels also appear, looking like thin red streaks.”

Beat the bloat

Alcohol can also cause your face to look bloated and puffy. You might find it bloats your stomach too. And then there's the cellulite; many believe the toxins in alcohol contribute to its build up. Not the look you were going for? If you're drinking heavily, however, you can take steps to cut down.

Spotty and smelly?

Sorry, there's more. Hungover people don't smell too good either; the liver metabolises most alcohol, but five to 10 percent leaves the body straight through your breath, sweat and urine.

If you didn't manage to take your make-up off, you'll be more prone to spots too. Never mind your glassy, bloodshot eyes.

So hungover is not your best look, nor the look of someone who’s been a heavy drinker over a number of years, why not cut down your alcohol intake in 2010 and help preserve those good looks.

Page last updated by

Matthew Bateman, 23 Aug 2010.

Page checked on

31 Aug 2009