Smoking and cancer
Stopping smoking, whether you're living with or have had cancer, is very important for your health.
Choosing to stop smoking has many benefits:
- reduces the side effects of cancer treatments
- helps your cancer treatment to be more effective
- reduces the risk of the cancer coming back
- reduces the risk of developing new cancers
Your cancer treatment may involve surgery. If you stop smoking before you have surgery you're:
- likely to recover more quickly
- more likely to have a shorter stay in hospital
- your wound is likely to heal more quickly
Even stopping a few weeks before and after surgery can reduce the risk of complications.
Smoking around family and friends exposes them to second hand smoke. This is called passive smoking and puts them at higher risk of getting smoking related diseases including cancer.
Read more about the benefits of giving up smoking on the Macmillan Cancer Support website.
You’re 4 times more likely to stop smoking if you get support from a specialist stop smoking service. Visit our stopping smoking webpages for more information and advice.