SKIN CARE NEWS

Smoke, Sun and Excess Weight Contribute to Skin Damage

By Madeline Ellis

 

 

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What does sunburn, smoking and excess weight have in common? It may come as a surprise to learn that all can damage your skin—making you look older than you really are. Researchers at Case Western Reserve Medical School in Cleveland arrived at this conclusion after studying 65 pairs of identical and fraternal twins who attended the 2002 Twin Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. “The Twins Days Festival provides a rare opportunity to study a large number of twin pairs to control for genetic susceptibility,” the study authors wrote.

The twins, who ranged in age from 18 to 77, answered questions about their weight, skin type, smoking and drinking habits, and history of skin cancer. Each participant was assigned a photodamage score, which graded characteristics such as wrinkling and pigmentation changes. The researchers found that skin damage was similar among the twins whether they were identical or fraternal, which suggests that “people with the same genetic composition are more likely to have the same sort of sun damage,” said Dr. Jonette Keri, an assistant professor of dermatology at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. In other words, “if your mom aged poorly, you are going to age poorly,” she said