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Cancer Recovery After Quitting: When Does the Risk Start to Decline?
The risk of smoking-related cancers begins to decline immediately after quitting—but the decline is slow. Lung cancer risk is halved at 10 years, approaches never-smoker levels at 20. The body heals. Some damage is permanent.
At 5 years after quitting: risk of mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder cancer reduced by 50%. At 10 years: lung cancer risk reduced by 50%. At 15-20 years: lung cancer risk approaches that of a never-smoker—but never fully normalizes. **The cancer risk declines steadily after quitting—but the decline is gradual, reflecting the long latency of carcinogenesis. The best time to quit was decades ago. The second-best time is now.**
