“Do the lungs have the capability to regenerate?”
I am 35 years old, and was a smoker since I was 16 until I turned 34. I quit smoking when I wanted to conceive my first child. I am now pregnant, but would like to know if my lungs can look like normal lungs after quitting the habit. Can lungs regenerate and become healthy again?
4 Answers
Dear Former Smoker,
Congratulations on your new baby, and being smoke-free for so long. It speaks so much of your tenacity and desire to live healthier and provide that for your children. Rest assured that the lungs do reward you when you quit smoking. I'd be lying if I said they would look like never smoker lungs, but their function improves over the years to close to that of
someone who has never smoked. Of course, this also depends on many factors such as the length of time one smoked in the past, whether there is any damage or scarring already done, but as a general rule, you can expect to have more breath capacity, more ability to self-clean your lungs from the debris of everyday breathing, and if you get a cold or bronchitis, you have much more ability to fight it off than if you were still smoking. I hope this helps answer your question.
Congratulations on your new baby, and being smoke-free for so long. It speaks so much of your tenacity and desire to live healthier and provide that for your children. Rest assured that the lungs do reward you when you quit smoking. I'd be lying if I said they would look like never smoker lungs, but their function improves over the years to close to that of
someone who has never smoked. Of course, this also depends on many factors such as the length of time one smoked in the past, whether there is any damage or scarring already done, but as a general rule, you can expect to have more breath capacity, more ability to self-clean your lungs from the debris of everyday breathing, and if you get a cold or bronchitis, you have much more ability to fight it off than if you were still smoking. I hope this helps answer your question.
Lungs are made up of 2 systems- air sacs (alveoli) and airways (bronchial tubes smoking causes inflammation of the airways called chronic bronchitis, as well as breakdown of the walls of the air sacs, called emphysema.
Unfortunately, lungs do not have the capacity to regenerate. The good news is that an individuals susceptibility to cigarette smoke varies and less than 20 yrs of smoking rarely causes significant damage. As well, lung function does recover some over time with gradual resolution of chronic bronchitis, with improvement reaching a plateau by 6 months. The emphysema, unfortunately, never repairs itself, but the lungs have a great deal of reserve. Shortness of breath may not begin until more than 40% of lung function is lost, and disability until 60%. Physicians think about transplanting lungs when function is less than 25% of predicted. Lung transplants hold up poorly with 20% of recipients dying by 2 years, 50% by 5 years. This is why there is such a great deal of research invested in stem cell therapies - this is likely the best opportunity to regenerate the lungs air sacs. We are still years away of perfecting techniques, but the chances this approach will become reality is high.
Unfortunately, lungs do not have the capacity to regenerate. The good news is that an individuals susceptibility to cigarette smoke varies and less than 20 yrs of smoking rarely causes significant damage. As well, lung function does recover some over time with gradual resolution of chronic bronchitis, with improvement reaching a plateau by 6 months. The emphysema, unfortunately, never repairs itself, but the lungs have a great deal of reserve. Shortness of breath may not begin until more than 40% of lung function is lost, and disability until 60%. Physicians think about transplanting lungs when function is less than 25% of predicted. Lung transplants hold up poorly with 20% of recipients dying by 2 years, 50% by 5 years. This is why there is such a great deal of research invested in stem cell therapies - this is likely the best opportunity to regenerate the lungs air sacs. We are still years away of perfecting techniques, but the chances this approach will become reality is high.
Congratulations on quitting smoking. Unfortunately, the lungs do not regenerate; once structural damage is done by smoking or other diseases, it is irreversible. However, the inflammatory response to cigarette smoking does improve within a few weeks after quitting smoking. That is why after you quit, you often produce more phlegm as the body is better able to help remove these secretions because they are functioning better. But quitting smoking will decrease your risk of developing lung cancer, too.
Quitting smoking is always important, there is no regeneration of the actual damage. As we age we loose lung function, but smokers lose function at a faster rate, by quitting you slow down the decrease in function to normal rate.
