RoC Skincare is testing its patented clinical retinol in adult female identical twins, pairing clinical skin measurements with biometric data from Oura Rings. The company says the approach could help it better distinguish the effects of a product from the influence of lifestyle and environment.
The first stage was a pilot clinical study intended to prove whether identical twins could provide a more precise model for studying visible skin aging. Art Pellegrino, RoC Skincare’s chief scientific officer, said the pilot was designed to answer that question, and the company concluded that the model worked.
Because identical twins share DNA and much of their early environment, researchers can more confidently attribute differences in skin aging to lifestyle factors or products. Pellegrino described identical twins as close to a natural control: if their skin ages differently, lifestyle and environment become the more likely explanation.
In the pilot, twins in the placebo group had similar or worse signs of aging at the end of the study, according to Pellegrino. Twins in the treatment group showed as much as or more than 20% improvement in just four weeks, he said. Those results are the company’s account of the pilot and do not by themselves establish how much of the change came from the product versus other factors.
Why twins and wearables
The pilot did not attempt to measure how much skin aging comes from genes versus lifestyle. RoC says the expanded study is intended to examine that question by looking at how daily life, including sleep and stress, changes the picture when genetics are held constant. The company is recruiting 30 pairs of adult female identical twins aged 40 and older living in the US for the next phase, which will use a 12-week regimen.
Participants are asked to wear an Oura Ring, which tracks health and wellness metrics including sleep, stress, heart rate, heart rate variability and temperature trends. RoC says wearables offer a way to factor how people live into skin care recommendations. Because the company cannot guarantee that twins have identical external influences such as sun exposure or diet, it is recruiting twins with similar levels of environmental damage wherever possible and tracking sleep and stress closely.
Combining lifestyle tracking with the genetic control provided by twins is expected to let RoC compare how each sister’s skin responds to the regimen. If one twin sleeps poorly or is under more stress, researchers can examine whether her skin responds differently from her sister’s. They also plan to explore whether weeks of poor sleep line up with lower hydration readings, or whether the twin with lower stress sees fine lines improve faster. Conversely, RoC is interested in whether participants who see visible skin improvements also feel less stressed.
The study uses standard clinical skin measures: expert grading, digital photography, corneometer readings and participant self-assessment. RoC says what it learns will shape how it develops products for skin longevity and how it designs future clinical studies. The company expects results from the twin study by mid-2027.