Having acne is every child's nightmare. It means that they're going to be bullied for something that they were born with. It means moments of confusion wherein they wonder why people look at them weirdly just because of the red, angry pimples that they've known their entire lives. Having acne means many things but in current research, it means that people who suffer from it are going to live longer lives in comparison to those without it.
A recent study by scientists and researchers at King's College of London found that looking old and sickly is the last thing people with acne are going to worry about.
"For many years, dermatologists have identified that the skin of acne sufferers appears to age more slowly than in those who have not experienced any acne in their lifetime. Whilst this has been observed in clinical settings, the cause of this was previously unclear," said lead researcher Simone Ribero, as reported by Deccan Chronicle.
"Our findings suggest that the cause could be linked to the length of telomeres which appears to be different in acne sufferers and means their cells may be protected against ageing."
In a comparison done through a group of 1,205 female twins, it was found that the women who had acne had longer telomeres than their counterparts. Telomeres, or chromosome caps, functions as a DNA-protecting structure. In a way, it slows down the threads of your DNA as you age. These structures have been linked to a number of things that most people worry about like ageing, higher chances of dying, and cancer.
Having a longer telomere means that these people produced a higher number of an enzyme that only cells can secrete known as telomerase. This enzyme slows cell death thus making the skin look younger. It also prevents wrinkles and thinning skin.
The whole study has been published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
