Blog

It has always been said among dermatologists that acne-prone skin takes longer to develop wrinkles. However, there was no scientific explanation to prove this frequent observation within our medical specialty.

Last September was published in the Journal of Investigative of Dermatologyone of the scientific journals with the greatest impact in dermatology, published an interesting article that links the suffering from acne with an increased telomere length.

Telomeres are the extreme part of chromosomes and their main functions are chromosome stabilization, cell division and cell lifespan. Telomeres break down with cellular aging until cell death. With the death of cells, the dreaded wrinkles appear.

The authors of this interesting article selected 1205 female twin volunteers with the aim of relating acne to the telomere length of their chromosomes.

To do so, they interviewed the women about their medical history of acne, took samples of white blood cells to analyze telomere length, and in some women performed skin biopsies to study their gene expression.

After analyzing the results separately according to weight, age and height, the scientists found that women who had suffered from acne had on average longer telomeres than those who had not suffered from acne.

As for the study of genes in the skin biopsy, they only detected differences in one gene (ZNF420), which was more frequently expressed in those women who had never suffered from acne.

In conclusion, the authors state that possibly the delay of skin aging in people who have suffered from acne is due to the fact that the longer length of their telomeres protects the cells from aging. Although this study has only been conducted in women, the authors believe that the results can be extrapolated to men.

This study is a starting point for further research in both sexes on the genetic process of acne and the development of new anti-acne and anti-aging drugs.

Finally, with this scientific publication we have found an advantage for all those who suffer from acne.