RoC Skincare is using identical twins and wearable biometric tracking to study how its patented clinical retinol affects visible skin aging. The brand has moved from a pilot study to a larger phase and is recruiting 30 pairs of adult female identical twins aged 40 and older in the United States.
Participants will follow a regimen for 12 weeks while wearing Oura Rings, which track sleep, stress, heart rate, heart-rate variability and temperature trends. RoC will pair those lifestyle signals with clinical skin measurements.
Why identical twins
Art Pellegrino, RoC Skincare's chief scientific officer, says identical twins offer an unusually strong research model. Because they share DNA and much of their early environment, differences in visible skin aging are more likely to be explained by lifestyle, environment or product use than by genetics. He describes identical twins as close to a natural control.
The pilot study was designed to test whether that model could give researchers a more precise way to study skin aging, Pellegrino says, and the company concluded that it could. In the pilot, he reports that twins in the placebo group had similar or worse signs of aging at the end, while those in the treatment group showed improvement of 20% or more within four weeks.
What the next phase will examine
The pilot did not try to measure how much skin aging comes from genes versus lifestyle. The expanded study is intended to address that question by tracking daily life while genetics are held constant. RoC wants to see how factors such as sleep and stress change the picture, and how those habits relate to skin condition.
Because researchers cannot guarantee that twins will have identical sun exposure or diets, RoC is recruiting pairs with similar levels of environmental damage where possible and tracking sleep and stress closely. Pellegrino says the combination of twin controls and wearable data could show whether a twin who sleeps poorly or reports more stress responds differently to the regimen than her sister. The team also plans to look at whether poor sleep aligns with lower hydration readings, or whether the twin with lower stress sees fine lines improve faster. RoC is additionally interested in whether visible skin improvements might make participants feel less stressed.
Clinical measures and timeline
RoC's clinical assessments include expert grading, digital photography, corneometer readings and participant self-assessment. Pellegrino says wearables are creating an opportunity to factor daily living into skin care recommendations. The company expects results from the twin study by mid-2027 and says the findings will inform product development for skin longevity and the design of future clinical studies.