There are a lot of things that children look forward to when they grow up. They look forward to freedom, they look forward to experiencing new things and they look forward to visiting places that they cannot currently visit. However, one thing that no child looks forward to in adolescence is acne.
Acne is the eternal enemy of teenagers. However, believe it or not, teenagers who have moderate acne may actually end up with better skin as they age. In fact, if a study published by King’s College London is to be believed, individuals who have acne in their teenage years will not only look younger, but they will stay looking younger longer.
The entire argument for this assertion is based on an examination of the length of the telomeres in the white blood cells of individuals who had acne as a teenager compared to those who did not.
Basically, telomeres are protein structures that you will find on either end of the chromosome. Their purpose is to protect the genome from degrading and needing to make unnecessary repairs. They also play a role in preventing inter-chromosomal fusion. To put it simply, telomeres are designed to preserve the information in our genome.
Researchers believe that a correlation exists between the length of the telomeres a person has and longevity, or at least the length of the telomeres dictates how insulated a person’s cells are against aging.
The Journal of Investigative Dermatology did a study where they looked at more than a 1,200 twins. About 25 percent of these twins had acne in their lifetime. These twins had longer telomeres as compared to their sibling who did not have acne.
This study is helping researchers understand something that many dermatologists have observed but have not been able to clinically prove. Many dermatologists have noted that individuals who suffer from acne in their youth seem to have skin that ages slower throughout the course of their lifetime. Until this report, no one knew the reason why.
Researchers are going to do more studies, and they admit some of the limitations of their research. For example, all of the test subjects were female. They have yet to rule out a causal relationship between acne and longer telomeres in some patients. The research also relied on patients self-reporting their acne history and the treatments they’ve used.
Of course, this does not mean that having acne is a positive thing. You still have to deal with the facial blemishes and the frustration of looking at yourself in the mirror before a big event and realizing that your skin is not as smooth as you want it to be.
For this reason, there are still a lot of options available for individuals who want to permanently get rid of acne. These options include things ranging from topical creams, light and laser treatments and a whole host of other anti-acne treatments. Schedule an appointment at Dermatology Consultants of South Florida in Coral Springs or Sunrise to learn more information about our treatment options.