A study of skin changes that characterise different types of facial ageing. (1st June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pardo, L.M.; Hamer, M.A.; Liu, F.; Velthuis, P.; Kayser, M.; Gunn, D.A.; Nijsten, T.
• Is Part Of: British journal of dermatology. Volume 182:Number 6(2020)
• Page Start: e197
• Page End: e197
• Publication Date: 2020-06-01
• Subjects: Dermatology -- Periodicals; Skin -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 616.5
• DOI: 10.1111/bjd.19076
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0007-0963

Abstract

Summary: Facial ageing is characterised by several skin changes, but it is not currently clear how these changes are related to each other, and how these are linked to the different types of facial ageing. This study, involving investigators from the Netherlands, China and the U.K., was designed to identify which facial changes are best associated with different types of ageing. The authors measured seven different individual features which can be identified visually. These were general (global) wrinkling, perceived age, a measure for assessing photodamage (Griffiths grading), pigmented (dark) spots, telangiectasia (spidery dilated blood vessels), actinic keratosis (patches of skin that are a pre‐cancerous change) and the presence of a type of skin cancer called keratinocyte cancer, such as squamous cell carcinomas. The method they used for identifying groupings of these individual facial changes, that could be best used to identify ageing in the skin, is called 'principal component analysis'. This is a statistical method for comparing and identifying similarities in complex data. The team's techniques for examination included facial photographs, but there was also a full skin examination in over 4, 600 individuals from the Netherlands, of whom almost 1, 800 had complete information on all the seven changes described above. Most (over 70%) of the features associated with ageing on the skin could be grouped into one of three different patterns. Firstly, a 'hypertrophic component' which included increased wrinkling, perceived age and damage associated with sun exposure. Secondly, an 'atrophic component' which had two main changes, pigmented spots and telangiectasia and thirdly, a 'cancerous component' where there were more actinic keratoses or keratinocyte skin cancers. The importance of this work it that it will allow researchers to study risk factors or preventative measures for the three main types of skin ageing using this new classification. This is a summary of the study: Principal component analysis of seven skin‐ageing features identifies three main types of skin ageing