By Amanpreet Singh, Psychologist

Drugs affect your appearance in many ways. Using drugs like heroin/Chitta drug affects your physical and mental health. When a person starts using drugs regularly, it starts affecting the body like changing his skin and affecting teeth, muscles, and bones. These various parts of the body go under change. When someone uses them for a long period of time.

Let’s look at a glance at what changes can occur in the body :

• Skin–  Skin is the largest organ of the body. When a person starts using substances skin starts getting affected. The first thing that can be seen on the skin is acne as some drugs that causes an increase in sweating. This makes harmful bacterial growth on the skin as the sweat has toxins. Leading to clogged pores on the face and acne appears.

1. The other effect that can be seen is wrinkles on the face. Which is the outcome of using drugs continuously. When drugs like heroin are used daily it changes the internal components of the body which can make you look older. Dark spots also can be seen on the body. The sleep cycle of the person becomes affected which also leads to changes in the skin as the body is not getting sufficient rest. Also, mandatory hormones would not get released which are healthy for the body.
2. The effects of having heroin regularly are that the immunity of the body does not remain the same. The diet also becomes irregular. The wound healing, dark spots, uneven skin tone, acne, and dry skin can be seen on the skin.

• Muscles-  Muscles also get affected as a result of the drugs. Substances like heroin affected the muscles. The use of heroin leads to infections and problems in muscles and tendons. As it can impair the absorption of important nutrients in the body. As seen in the alcoholic person who uses it regularly becomes deficient in Vitamins like B and C. As these are water soluble and can easily destroy the body. Muscles break down and atrophy occurs who are consuming heroin, their disturbed sleep cycle leads to these problems too. They often feel pain and cramps. They also face weight loss and muscle injuries.

• Bone–  Bones also get affected in the body as this substance alters the absorption of calcium and decreases bone density. Osteoporosis, a disease related to bones, can also occur because of the consumption of heroin. Those who start using substances in their teenage have higher chances of effects on the bones. Bones cannot get the needed nutrients to become strong and they appear weaker than normal people.

• Teeth– Teeth are also affected by using substances like heroin. Every substance has a different effect on the teeth. Alcohol can affect tooth and gum health, as this makes the body acidic so leading to dental erosion. Heroin can do tooth loss and tooth decay. As this can make the mouth dry because saliva production decreases. Taste buds are also got affected, gum diseases can also occur. Stimulants like methamphetamine also make changes in the mouth.

• Hair– Hair is also gets affected by the use of the substance as the hair becomes weaker because of the changes that occur in its physical and chemical structure. When heroin is used regularly, stress level becomes high in the body which leads to many problems. Stress causes a weakened immunity system, problems in recovery, and hair loss.

Treatment of drug addiction 

Treatment of the drugs like heroin (also chitta drug) is possible. When a person wants to live a normal healthy life. It is easy for them to recover from the damages that occurred to them. Physical and mental health gets affected by substances, which can be recovered with the help of doctors. They need to understand the after-effects of the substances they are bearing. It’s not only one person, who is consuming the substance, that gets affected. The whole family and close ones suffer with one. Recovery is possible if they come to know that this is only their addictive behavior that has developed some have an addiction to playing video games. They got addicted to using substances and need to break the cycle. Their understanding and support from their family can make it possible for them to recover from this unhealthy life to a healthy lifestyle. Medications and Psychological support can help them get out of this addictive behavior.