RoC Skincare is using identical twins and wearable biometric data to test its patented Clinical Retinol, moving a pilot study into a larger phase that examines how lifestyle and genetics shape visible skin aging. The brand is working to recruit 30 pairs of adult female identical twins aged 40 and older in the US for a 12-week regimen.
The pilot study was designed to establish whether identical twins could serve as a more precise model for studying skin aging. Art Pellegrino, RoC Skincare’s chief scientific officer, said the answer was yes. Because twins begin with the same genetic blueprint, differences between them are harder to attribute to genetics, making it easier to observe what a product is doing on the skin, according to the company.
Identical twins share DNA and much of their early environment, so researchers can more definitively identify lifestyle factors or products as explanations for differences in skin aging. Pellegrino described identical twins as close to a natural control: if their skin ages differently, lifestyle and environment become the likelier explanation.
What the pilot found
According to RoC, twins in the placebo group had similar or worse signs of aging at the end of the pilot, while twins in the treatment group had 20% or more improvement in just four weeks. The pilot was not designed to quantify how much skin aging comes from genes versus lifestyle.
The expanded study is intended to examine how daily life, including sleep and stress, can change the picture when genetics is held constant. RoC says the focused group of at least 30 pairs of women aged 40 and older in the US, using the regimen for 12 weeks, should provide cleaner data to build on. The company sees the work as one stage in a longer research program on “skin span,” or how long skin keeps looking its best.
Oura Ring adds lifestyle data
Throughout the study, participants are asked to wear an Oura Ring, a wearable device that tracks health and wellness metrics across the day. RoC is using it to capture variations in biometric data such as sleep, stress, heart rate, heart rate variability and temperature trends.
Pellegrino said wearables are opening an opportunity across the industry to factor in how people live when recommending skin care. Because RoC cannot guarantee that twins have identical external influences such as sun exposure or diet, the company is recruiting twins with similar levels of environmental damage where possible and tracking lifestyle factors closely during the study.
With identical twins removing the question of whether a difference is genetic, and the Oura Ring tracking lifestyle parameters, RoC plans to examine how stressors relate to changes in each participant’s skin. Examples include whether weeks of poor sleep line up with lower hydration readings, or whether the twin with lower stress levels sees fine lines improve faster. The company is also interested in exploring whether participants who see visible skin improvements feel less stressed. These are research questions the study is designed to examine, not reported findings.
Clinical measures and next steps
RoC’s standard clinical skin measures evaluate changes in signs of skin aging through expert grading, digital photography, corneometer readings and participant self-assessment. The company says what it learns will shape how it develops products for skin longevity and how it designs future clinical studies.
RoC expects results from the twin study by mid-2027. For now, the expanded phase is positioned as a test of a research method that pairs genetic control with real-world lifestyle tracking to better understand retinol’s visible effects on skin.