Surgeons Reveal What Lungs Look Like On A Chain Smoker

We've always been warned about the dangers of smoking, but it's rare to have an up close view of what it can do to your body.

Sure, smokers are confronted with images of the effects of smoking on plain packets, which are meant to deter them from lighting up.

But this could be the biggest reason to stop.

Surgeons have removed the lungs of a 52-year-old man who had been chain smoking for 30 years.

Doctor Chen Jingyu and his transplant team inspected the lungs at Wuxi People's Hospital in China's eastern Jiangsu Province.

The man was listed as an organ donor and it didn't take much for surgeons to realise that these lungs were certainly not going anywhere near another human's body.

After sucking down on the ciggies for the better part of three decades, the lungs had calcification, bullous lung disease and pulmonary emphysema.

Dr Chen wants this to be used as a reason why you should definitely not smoke.

"The patient didn't undergo a CT scan before his death. He was declared brain dead, and his lungs were donated shortly after that," Dr Chen said.

"Initial oxygenation index tests were OK, but when we harvested the organs, we realised we wouldn't be able to use them.

"We Chinese love smoking. It would be impractical to say that we wouldn't accept the lungs of all smokers, but there are strict standards.

"These include lungs under 60 years of age in a patient who has only recently been declared medically dead; minor infections in the lungs and relatively clean chest X-rays are also acceptable.

"If the above conditions are met, we would consider transplanting the lungs."

Not only can it dramatically shorten your life but it can also cause a heart attack, coronary heart disease, stroke, damaged arteries and veins and a whole host of other issues.

Incredibly, figures from last year show a little more than 26 per cent of China are smokers.

"Many smokers in this country have lungs which look like this. Our team decided to reject these lungs for transplant," Dr Chen continued.

"If you're a heavy smoker, your lungs may not be accepted even if you choose to donate them after death.

"Look at these lungs - do you still have the courage to smoke?"

So if you're still lighting up, just imagine what your lungs look like and question if you want to replicate the above.