RoC Skincare is using identical twins and Oura Ring wearable data to test its Patented Clinical Retinol, combining clinical skin assessments with lifestyle biometrics. The company says a pilot study has supported the twin model and is now recruiting for a larger phase.
Twins as a natural control
Art Pellegrino, RoC Skincare’s chief scientific officer, says identical twins offer an unusually close natural control because they share DNA and much of their early environment. If their skin ages differently, lifestyle and environment become the more likely explanation. The pilot was designed to establish whether twins could give researchers a more precise way to study what drives visible skin aging, and Pellegrino says the answer was yes.
Pilot findings and the next phase
In the pilot, Pellegrino says twins in the placebo group had similar or worse signs of aging at the end of the study, while twins in the treatment group had an improvement of 20% or more in four weeks. RoC is now working to recruit 30 pairs of adult female identical twins aged 40 and older in the US for the next phase. Participants will use the regimen for 12 weeks. Pellegrino describes the focused group as a way to generate cleaner data and as one stage in a longer research program on extending skin span, or how long skin keeps looking its best.
Wearables alongside clinical measures
Participants are asked to wear an Oura Ring, which tracks health and wellness metrics throughout the day, to capture variations in biometric data including sleep, stress, heart rate, heart rate variability and temperature trends. RoC says it is recruiting twins with similar levels of environmental damage wherever possible and tracking sleep and stress closely because external influences such as sun exposure or diet cannot be guaranteed to be identical.
Pellegrino says wearables are opening an opportunity to factor in how people live when recommending skin care. 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. The company says it will compare twins throughout the study, for example looking at whether weeks of poor sleep line up with lower hydration readings or whether the twin with lower stress sees fine lines improve faster. It is also interested in whether visible skin improvements make participants feel less stressed.
Clinical skin measures include expert grading, digital photography, corneometer readings and subject self-assessment.
What the study can show
The pilot did not attempt to measure how much skin aging comes from genes versus lifestyle; the expanded study is intended for that question. RoC wants to see how daily life, including sleep and stress, changes the picture when genetics is held constant. Pellegrino says the findings will shape how RoC develops products for skin longevity and designs future clinical studies. RoC expects results from the twin study by mid-2027.