Skin aging is a complex process. Besides the ‘typical’ sign of skin aging, which is fine wrinkles, there is also photodamage which comes from exposure to the sun. Photodamage leads to coarse wrinkles, spots of pigment and also loss of pigment, and dilated blood vessels on the face. Skin aging is, to a certain extent, genetically determined but there are also environmental factors involved. To try to determine some of the latter, researchers at Case Western School of Medicine, Cleveland, studied 65 pairs of twins, both identical and non-identical.

The twins were asked about their skin type, history of skin cancer (if any), smoking and drinking habits, and weight. Then skin aging was assessed, using a photodamage score covering characteristics like extent of wrinkling and number of pigmented spots. As might have been expected, there was a strong genetic factor in skin aging for both identical and non-identical twins. That is, if one twin had young-looking skin, the other one tended to as well. But other factors associated with higher skin aging and photodamage were a history of skin cancer, heavier weight, and smoking. Another factor associated with skin aging was, as expected, failure to use sunscreen. But alcohol consumption, surprisingly perhaps, was linked to lower photodamage scores. The findings suggest that the best way to keep your skin young might be to use sunscreen every day.

Source:

Martires K et al Factors that affect skin aging: a cohort-based survey on twins Archives of Dermatology December 2009; 145:1375-1379