KYOTO, JAPAN Facial sagging has been found to be a function not only of aging, gravity, and environmental and lifestyle factors, but also of genetics.
Melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) and elastin proved to be significantly associated with the sagging of facial skin in a genetic study of 530 white women age 44-70 years, Christiane Guinot, Ph.D., said at an international investigative dermatology meeting.
The MC1R gene plays a major role in skin pigmentation and sensitivity to sunlight. Elastin figures prominently in arterial wall elasticity. Neither gene had previously been linked to sagging of facial skin, said Dr. Guinot of the Chanel Epidermal and Sensory Research and Investigation Center and the University of Tours (France).
Dr. Guinot, who is president of the French Statistical Association, reported that 121 of the 530 women had severe sagging of the facial skin based upon a structured 0-10 rating scale. Nongenetic factors that proved significantly associated with severe facial sagging were age, being overweight or obese, and being menopausal and not on hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
An analysis that adjusted for these factors revealed that women carrying two variants of the MC1R gene were at a 2.3-fold increased risk of severe sagging, compared with those with the wt/wt (wild type) genotype. Women with the Ser422Gly polymorphism of the elastin gene were at a 1.8-fold increased risk.
Overweight women were 1.7 times more likely to have severe facial sagging than normal-weight women; obese women were at 2.3-fold increased risk. Menopausal women not on HRT were an adjusted 2.1-fold more likely to have severe facial skin sagging than those on HRT.
Neither smoking status nor skin color was significantly associated with severity of facial skin sagging, although the spectrum of skin colors in this all-Caucasian study was limited, Dr. Guinot noted at the meeting of the European Society for Dermatological Research, the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology, and the Society for Investigative Dermatology. The study was sponsored by Chanel.
Women carrying two variants of the MC1R gene were at a 2.3-fold increased risk of severe sagging. DR. GUINOT