To give this 4-year old thread a bit of an update with the most modern drugs, we might note that a li’l nip o’ krokodil will add age and wisdom to anyone’s appearance.
ETA (Missed edit window)
ETA: Article I just found on it:
(SERIOUSLY grotesque NSFW pictures!)
Also, he likely had access to better quality drugs than most drug users. A lot of the damage “caused” by drugs is in fact cause by contaminants due to either sloppy manufacturing or due to the drug being cut with something awful, like bleach or concrete dust.
I’ve always heard and repeated this advice about krokodil: DON’T LOOK! The reaction I’ve seen from most people who do look only reinforces my position on the matter.
A lot of heavy drug users also pick at their skin - I’ve heard meth is really bad for this - so that can cause scarring/scabbing.
Most of the age ravaged drug users you see are stimulant addicts, either methamphetamine or cocaine/crack. It is a combination of sleep deprivation, malnutrition from appetite suppression for the most part. Alcoholics have the combo of toxicity of the substance itself AND withdrawal causes delirum tremens and blood pressure spikes which is not good on the body.
Then you have lifestyle effects from living on the street etc which can hit any addict.
If you spend much time at AA meetings you will see many examples of people looking many years younger after only a few months clean and sober. I would even say that is the norm.
There are a number of reasons like eating right, sleeping well, reduced stress.
One of the big ones is improved hygiene and fashion awareness due to actually giving a shit, and in some cases freeing up resources to spend on luxuries like shampoo and toothpaste.
The stress thing is not to be dismissed. If your coworker with a healthy lifestyle suddenly started looking like hell, and you found out his kid had been diagnosed with cancer, then you’d probably be satisfied that was the cause. Beyond the stress of where is the next fix coming from, addicts worry about being jailed, losing job, losing kids, losing marriage, etc. essentially they live in a perpetual state of barely holding things together.
Meth addicts seem to show it the worst. One thing not mentioned is that they pick at their face and skin and often break out in sores which leave scarring. Another factor is our mental state affects our facial expressions. Meth addicts will have contorted expressions that only someone who knows them well can really pich out.
What else are you going to do when you are hiding in a trailer or apartment and you have been awake for 48 hours, very, very awake?
Knitting? Reading is out of the question because your eyes will not stay in one spot for more than a second, well, half second, maybe millisecond.
And your nose smells like cat piss. And your boyfriend is in jail. And there is no possible way you could even hold a job pumping gas.
Why did i have to go and look at that krokodil link? i feel ill. If you are thinking of looking at it please dont.
I think part of it is that in the first photos we see of starlets before they start down the substance abuse trail, they’re wearing make up and have their hair styled nicely. Even without any substance abuse, an attractive woman wearing make up, good hair, and a rehearsed smile can look quite different on a trip to the grocery store sans any make-up, bad hat hair, and a neutral expression. Not to say that months or years of drug abuse won’t take their toll, but the starlets are starting at a higher standard.
Well, just a thought, anyway.
We warned you! I warned you. Der Trihs warned you. But did you heed our wise advice? Nooooooooo! Now you’ll have to live with those pics ensconsed in your engrams for all of eternity. That is your punishment.
But for anyone who really likes that stuff (Hey! Real live zombie pics!) there’s plenty more where that came from. Just google up some krokodil pics. Zombies galore!
Srsly. Baaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddd shit.
Additional WARNING:
Krokodil causes flesh (skin, veins, muscles - all of it) to fall off the bones. The tendons may survive, resulting in an upper arm with bones coming out of the elbow. Yes, bones.
I don’t know how the medicos deal with these nightmares in person. I couldn’t.
Now that krokodil’s been handled:
Can anybody explain the physiology of “sunken” and, especially, “dead” eyes?
I cannot imagine how the “dead” effect is obtained. Some drugs (heroin, meth) deflate fat (ladies - like having boobs? Want to keep them?), which would explain “sunken” - what about “dead”?
Lots of barely holding it together in front of the patient and retching and OMGing in the supply closet, I expect. They’re professionals, but they’re human.
Sunken = Dehydration, usually. Same thing happens to folks with heatstroke. When you’re bad into the drug thing, water is too much of a bother to go get and drink regularly.
Dead = They often have trouble focusing or holding attention on what you think they ought to be paying attention to, and that sort of fixed, distant unfocused gaze looks kind of dead.
Some drugs (looking at you, meth) cause drying of mucus membranes, which can also lead to the eyeball not being sufficiently lubricated with tears. This can make it less shiny and more dead looking.
Messed up liver function can also impart icky color to thinks like eyeballs and skin as well.